Violence in Iraq as pro-Iran groups clash with security forces in Baghdad

Hundreds of supporters of pro-Iran groups clashed with security forces in Iraq’s capital Friday, expressing their fury over last month’s election result, AFP journalists and a security source said.

Demonstrators from groups loyal to the Hashed al-Shaabi, the Iranian-backed Popular Mobilisation Units (PMU) militias, threw projectiles and “blocked… access to the (high-security) Green Zone” on three sides, before they were pushed back by police who fired in the air, a security source said, requesting anonymity.

The Hashed’s political arm saw its share of parliamentary seats decline substantially in October’s election, which the group’s supporters have denounced as “fraud.”