BAGHDAD — A day after a major protest demanding greater accountability in Iraq, especially as concerns the unsolved murders of several activists, the commander of a faction affiliated with the Popular Mobilization Units was arrested in a move that was followed by allied factions entering Baghdad’s Green Zone in a show of force.

Qassim Musleh, who was arrested on terrorism charges, is the head of the Tufuf Brigade, the 13th Brigade in Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units, and PMU commander for Anbar including the Iraqi-Syrian border area.

A senior government official told Al-Monitor that Musleh was suspected of being behind the murder of several activists in his hometown of Karbala including Ihab al-Wazni, who had helped coordinate the Karbala component of the protest movement that started in late 2019 and that brought down the last government. He was also vocal about his opposition to Iranian influence in the country and armed groups linked to Iran.

Wazni was shot outside his home on May 9 by unknown assailants on motorcycles. His assassination was the latest in a long string of similar murders of activists and journalists in the country for which the culprits are seldom if ever brought to justice.