Iraqi local sources said that four protesters were killed and others wounded in shooting at demonstrators at dawn today in Al-Wathba Square in central Baghdad. Security sources also reported that commercial stores were burned in Al-Wathba Square, near the Tahrir and Al-Khulani plots, and activists broadcast pictures of an armed executioner in Al-Wathba Square, on charges of targeting the protesters, and unknown persons assassinated a civilian activist in a neighborhood of the Iraqi capital.

Iraqi media reported that an armed young man had hidden in a commercial store in Al-Wathba Square, and during an attempt to arrest him from the demonstrators in the square, he opened fire, resulting in two deaths and injuries and the burning of a commercial store.

Witnesses said that a group claiming to protect the places of the demonstrations attacked the young man in his residence, which is located in Al-Wathba Square, and took him and his journey in the street among the masses of demonstrators who beat him and kicked him, and then suspended him after he died on one of the traffic lights in the square, before she intervened Security forces to take the body.

Video showing the moment when the shooter surrounded the demonstrators in central Baghdad
The video confirms that the person was armed and was firing, but he was supposed to arrest and interrogate him and to present his confessions to the public opinion.
The protesters in Tahrir Square issued a clarification in which they affirmed their keenness on peaceful demonstrations and their refusal to kill and abuse. Pic.twitter.com/cRbZgge8zb

- Omar Al-Janabi (@omartvsd) December 12, 2019

Condemnation of the accident
Many parties close to the protesters expressed their condemnation of this event, and called on the authorities to investigate to find out what happened and who was behind the incident.

Protesters had recently complained of unknown armed parties targeting the demonstrators by stabbing them with knives while they were in the protest grounds.

Meanwhile, the Tahrir Square and other areas of sit-ins in the southern governorates of the country are witnessing a continued influx of protesters demanding political and economic reforms and fighting corruption.

The assassination of an activist
On the other hand, activist Alaa Al-Jizawi was assassinated in Al-Shula neighborhood in Baghdad, to be the fourth civilian activist to be assassinated by unknown parties in less than two weeks.

The mass demonstrations took place the day before yesterday in Baghdad to demand the departure of the political class in Iraq and the fight against corruption and accountability of those responsible for killing the demonstrators and assassinating the activists.

An Iraqi woman puts a candle in a place of protests in Baghdad, as a tribute to the people of the popular movement, which has been going on for more than two months.

The Human Rights Committee in the House of Representatives said that the government and security forces would be held accountable if kidnappings of activists participating in the protests continued and killed them.

In the same vein, the US State Department stressed today the need to stop targeting protesters in Iraq, saying it is appropriate for countries to allow protesters to express their opinion and demand reforms.

A spokeswoman for the ministry added that Washington is ready to mobilize international public opinion regarding the systematic killings in Iraq.

UN report
A report issued yesterday by the Human Rights Office of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq said that at least 424 people were killed and 8,758 others injured in the protests that started in Iraq since the beginning of last October.

In a separate context, the Security Media Cell in Iraq said in a statement that two Katyusha rockets landed yesterday night at the outer perimeter of Baghdad International Airport in an uninhabited area without losses.

Yesterday's attack is the tenth of its kind in a month and a half, and comes three days after a similar attack with four missiles that resulted in the injury of six members of the Iraqi anti-terrorist forces that are based in one of the military bases adjacent to the airport.