Iraq: 1 person killed in Sulaymaniyah protests

By Bekir Aydogan and Rewa Mahmood Hasan

ERBIL, Iraq (AA) – One person was killed in northern Iraq on Wednesday during ongoing protests over deteriorating economic conditions which turned violent, local sources said.

Civil defense officer Hamza Mohammad, 52, was killed while he was trying to calm the demonstrators on the Sulaymaniyah-Dokan highway, the local health office told Anadolu Agency.

Separately, a person was seriously injured in the chest during the clashes between security forces and protesters in Chamchamal town in Sulaymaniyah province, provincial health director Ferhat Mohammad said.

Since Dec. 7, some eight people were killed and dozens others injured in the protests against the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq’s Suleymaniyah and Halabja provinces.

The KRG has been struggling to pay the salaries of civil servants since April, when Baghdad stopped paying them as a result of disputes over oil wealth management and the distribution of its revenues, as well as revenues from border crossings.

The number of KRG civil servants is estimated at 1.2 million, receiving total salaries of $700 million per month.

*Writing by Zehra Nur Duz in Ankara