Protests erupt in southern Iraq as man sentenced for tweeting against PMU
Security concerns for southern Iraq have risen following an attempted suicide attack near Karbala and deadly protests in Nasiriyah sparked by a prison sentence for a man accused of insulting security forces.
BAGHDAD — Following the sentencing of a young man for allegedly tweeting comments offensive to Iraq’s security forces, protests broke out this week in the southern Shiite-majority city of Nasiriyah in which at least two other young men were killed.
In another area over an hour by road south of Baghdad, suicide attackers a few days before had been thwarted by the security forces. One of the men managed nonetheless to blow himself up, killing two members of the country’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU).
Both of these incidents may bode ill for the new government and the stability of the country if underlying, long-festering concerns in the southern part of the country are not addressed.
Spokesman for the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi armed forces Maj. Gen. Yahya Rasool tweeted on Dec. 6 that the Karbala Operations Command forces had managed to kill another suicide bomber after chasing him following the explosion of the first attacker.
