In Friday steadfastness .. Bullets, bombs and blood in the yards of protest in Iraq

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Several Iraqi protesters were killed and scores wounded in a shooting and an explosion in Baghdad and Nasiriya protest squads on Friday, with renewed demonstrations demanding a change that the Shi'ite authority said was inevitable.

Two protesters were killed and 20 wounded late Friday when an explosive device went off near the Freedom Monument in Tahrir Square in central Baghdad, which is one of the main protest centers, the director of Al-Jazeera's office in Baghdad said.

Ibrahim said the device exploded as the demonstrators were flocking to Tahrir Square, adding that the explosion occurred about 70 meters from the Freedom Monument in the square where large numbers of demonstrators had gathered.

He also said that two sound bombs exploded on Friday evening without causing any injuries, pointing to the frequency of explosions in the vicinity of the square during the past four days.

Al-Jazeera's office director said the protesters believed the blasts were a message to them, and they feared more serious events than they have so far.

While witnesses spoke of the killing of demonstrators in the explosion, which occurred near the Freedom Monument in Tahrir Square, the Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights said that four were killed in the explosion, which the Iraqi security media cell said was caused by an explosive device planted under a car.

For its part, the Associated Press reported the killing of three demonstrators and wounding others as a result of the security forces opened fire and tear gas at the demonstrators during clashes at al-Khalani Square in Baghdad.

The announcement of more casualties among the protesters came hours after the Baghdad Operations Command denied reports that four protesters had been killed and more than 60 others wounded by gunfire and tear gas canisters near the al-Sinak bridge near Tahrir Square.

In a related context, witnesses from the city of Nasiriyah, the center of the province of Dhi Qar in southern Iraq, said that about 10 demonstrators were injured Friday by a sound bomb in the square Haboubi, where hundreds of demonstrators gather.

According to Iraqi human rights organizations, at least 320 demonstrators have been killed and thousands more injured since the protests began in early October.

Ongoing demonstrations
In addition to Baghdad's Tahrir Square, mass demonstrations took place on Friday in Karbala, Najaf, Babylon, Dhi Qar, Maysan and Basra to demand political and economic reform.

The director of the office of the island that the demonstrations are continuing and escalating, and no one expects an end soon in the absence of a real response from the Iraqi authorities, according to the Shiite authority.

Checklist warns
The Shiite authority in Iraq warned the ruling political parties of what it described as procrastination and procrastination in responding to the real demands of the demonstrators.

In the Friday sermon delivered by its representative Ahmed al-Safi in the city of Karbala, the reference stressed the importance of speeding up a new law to restore confidence in the electoral process, and ensure a real change in the country.

She also said that any new election law that did not bring change would not be acceptable.

It warned against external interference in what it described as the battle of reform waged by the people, and said that these interventions will turn Iraq into an arena for conflict and settling scores.