Protesters storm and burn the Basra Government building during a demonstration demanding better public services and jobs in Basra, 340 miles (550 km) southeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Sept. 7, 2018. Hundreds of angry protesters in Basra took to the streets on Thursday night. Some clashed with security forces, lobbing Molotov cocktails and setting fire to a government building as well as the offices of Shiite militias. At least three people were shot dead in confrontations with security forces. (AP Photo/Nabil al-Jurani)
Basra: Unidentified assailants fired four rockets at Iraq’s Basra airport on Saturday, security sources said.
The death toll from several days of protests over poor public services climbed to 12. Fifty people — 48 civilians and two policemen — were also reported injured.
Medical sources in Basra said two protesters had died on Friday night.
The main southern city has been rocked by protests since Tuesday, with demonstrators setting ablaze the government building, the Iranian consulate and the offices of militias and political parties close to Tehran after the hospitalisation of 30,000 people who had drunk polluted water.
It was not clear who fired the rockets, which struck inside the airport’s perimeter, the sources said.
Airport staff said flights were not affected. The US consulate in Basra is located near the airport.
The Iraqi parliament is expected to hold an emergency session later on Saturday to discuss the crisis in public services that has stoked the unrest.
