Iraqi Government Steps Up Investigation into Killings of Protesters, Journalists
Voice of America
CAIRO - Iraqi media are reporting on stepped up efforts to find whoever killed a protester Sunday night and attempted to kill a journalist. Crowds of mostly young men set fire to the perimeter of the Iranian consulate in Karbala after the attacks, as Prime Minister Mustafa al-Khadhimi vows to find and arrest the perpetrators.
The assassination of a protester in the Iraqi Shi'ite shrine town of Karbala Sunday night, along with the attempted assassination of a journalist in Diwaniya, led protesters to set fires outside the Iranian consulate, prompting an outcry from Tehran. Protesters set fire to the same consulate in November 2019. Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Khadhimi, himself a former journalist, vowed to uncover and prosecute those who were behind the latest attacks, as well as previous killings of protesters. He told journalists that an investigative committee has been set up, including a group of retired judges with experience, to investigate and question witnesses to determine what happened and eventually reach a conclusion.Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah on May 27, 2024. Fire rages following an Israeli strike on an area designated for displaced Palestinians, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, in this still picture taken from a video, May 26, 2024. Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah on May 27, 2024. A member of the bomb squad of the Israeli police collects debris after a rocket fired by Palestinian militants struck in the Israeli city of Herzliya on May 26, 2024.