Heavy gunfire rocks Baghdad's Green Zone amid violent protests
Supporters of a resigned prominent Iraqi Shiite cleric fired rocket-propelled grenades into Iraq’s Green Zone as machine gun fire crackled overhead Tuesday.
BAGHDAD — Powerful Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called on his loyalists in the government zone to withdraw after nearly 24 hours of fierce clashes with security forces and paramilitary groups.
In a televised speech Tuesday, al-Sadr gave his supporters, hundreds of whom stormed the government palace and have been holding an ongoing sit-in outside the Parliament building, an hour to leave.
Earlier, his supporters fired rocket-propelled grenades into Iraq’s Green Zone as machine gun fire crackled overhead, deepening the political chaos gripping the Mideast nation.
Those backing influential al-Sadr fired into the Green Zone, where it appeared Iraqi security forces were firing back at them. Live television footage showed the chaos, with at least one wounded man being taken away in a three-wheel rickshaw, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry visible behind them.
The death toll rose to 22 Iraqis on Tuesday after the unrest erupted the previous day, according to two medical officials.
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