Iraq .. cautious calm in the squares and demonstrators regain control of al-Khalani

Al-Jazeera correspondent in Baghdad said that the demonstrators regained control of al-Khalani Square near Tahrir Square in the center of the Iraqi capital, after security forces succeeded in the past few days to drive them away and block the road leading to Tahrir Square with concrete barriers.

The correspondent added that the demonstrators also took control of the building of the bridge of the bridge in Baghdad, stressing their position at the first security checkpoint, where there are riot police at the second checkpoint near the other bank of the bridge.

The Baghdad Operations Command announced earlier in the day to reopen the aviation-Alkhalani Square, and appealed to the demonstrators in Tahrir Square and its extensions to maintain peaceful demonstrations in the areas of Alkhalani and Alsink, and the preservation of public and private property.

And witnessed Tahrir Square in the center of the Iraqi capital, on Friday, crowds of demonstrators flocked to participate in what they called "Friday steadfastness."

There was calm in the streets of the demonstrations in the early morning hours on Saturday, where shops opened nearby to do business, especially the road leading to the square Khalani central Baghdad, packed with shops, and up to the large Shorja market.

Explosion in Tahrir Square
Meanwhile, the Iraqi government's security media cell said that one demonstrator was killed and 16 wounded in a bomb explosion near the Freedom Monument in Tahrir Square, while Reuters quoted security sources as saying that two people were killed as a result of the explosion.

Other sources said that the explosion was followed by two other sound bombs in the roads leading to Tahrir Square.

Major General Kazim Bohan, director of the civil defense, said the explosion was caused by an explosive device because of its intensity. Ambulances rushed to take the injured and victims to nearby hospitals.

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

Interior Ministry spokesman Khaled al-Muhanna said a third party was trying to divert the demonstrations from peaceful to violent.

There are also groups seeking to drag the country into chaos, the security media cell said in a statement, quoting an Interior Ministry spokesman.

This comes, while dozens of demonstrators suffocated cases during clashes with security forces, which renewed by nightfall in al-Khalani Square in central Baghdad, when a number of demonstrators tried to approach the line of repression being set up by the riot forces around the square.

Since the beginning of October last year, there have been popular protests in Baghdad and other provinces, demanding the departure of Adel Abdul Mahdi's government, which has been in power for more than a year. More than 325 people have been killed and 15,000 injured, according to Anatolian statistics based on figures from the Parliamentary Human Rights Commission, the Human Rights Commission (an official parliament) and medical sources.

Protesters initially demanded better services, jobs and corruption, before their demands included the departure of the government and the political elite accused of corruption.

Abdul-Mahdi refuses to resign, and requires that political forces first agree on an alternative, warning that the absence of a smooth and rapid alternative will leave the fate of the country for the unknown.