Three simultaneous explosions rocked Baghdad late Tuesday, killing five people and wounding more than a dozen, Iraqi officials said, in the first apparent coordinated attack since anti-government protests erupted nearly two months ago.
It was not immediately clear who has behind the bombings, which bore the hallmarks of the ISIS group. Iraq declared victory over the extremists nearly two years ago, but they still maintain a presence in parts of the country and carry out sporadic attacks.
Security officials said at least three people were killed and five wounded in an explosion in the southwestern Baiyaa neighborhood. Two were killed and four were wounded in northeastern Shaab City, and four were wounded in Baladiyat, southeast of Baghdad.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media, said two bomb-laden motorcycles and a roadside bomb were used in the attacks.
The bombings took place far from Baghdad’s Tahrir Square, the epicenter of weeks of anti-government protests that have posed the biggest security challenge to Iraq since the defeat of ISIS.
Security forces killed three protesters and wounded at least 80 on Tuesday as demonstrations raged in Baghdad and across mostly Shiite southern Iraq.
Security and hospital officials said two protesters in Baghdad were killed when security forces fired live ammunition and rubber bullets. In southern Iraq, one protester was killed when security forces fired live rounds after a full day of sit-ins and road closures.
Protesters, most of them balaclava-clad Iraqi youth, carried one of the slain demonstrators, his face covered in blood, away from the scene of the fighting to a tuk tuk — a three-wheeled motorcycle transport — for medical help.
Another protester died near the banks of the Tigris River, close to Ahrar bridge. Protesters are occupying part of three key bridges — Jumhuriya, Ahrar and Sinak — in a standoff with security forces.
Over 350 people have died and thousands more wounded since October 1, when thousands of Iraqis took to the streets to decry rampant government corruption, poor services and scarcity of jobs. The demonstrations have become the largest grassroots protest movement in Iraq’s modern history.
In Hillah, south of Baghdad, security forces fired tear gas grenades at protesters overnight, wounding around 60 people, medics there said. It marked the first violent turn for Hillah, where largely peaceful sit-ins have kept government offices and some schools closed.
In Diwaniyah, further south, schools and public buildings have also been shut for the last month amid strikes and road closures, but skirmishes with riot police have been rare.
Overnight, demonstrators tried to blockade main bridges and one of the province's three power stations, burning tires along highways leading to the city of Najaf to the west and Samawa further south.
In Karbala, demonstrators and security forces lobbed Molotov cocktails at one another.
Protesters also set fire to two government buildings in Nasiriyah and the home of a lawmaker.
Nighttime skirmishes have become routine in the city, but on Tuesday they carried on into midday.
In Dhi Qar, arteries linking key cities and the three oil fields of Garraf, Nasiriyah and Subba were shut.
Clashes with police guarding the fields left 13 officers wounded.
The three oil fields together produce around 200,000 of Iraq's roughly 3.6 million barrels a day.
The turmoil over the last two months has not significantly impacted oil production or exports in OPEC's second-largest crude producer.
