Iraq: Al-Sadr attacks Coordination Framework and calls on Iran to rein-in its proxies 

A spokesman for the Sadrist movement in Iraq demanded today that the Shia Coordination Framework forces should declare a period of mourning for supporters of Muqtada Al-Sadr who were shot by armed militias when they took to the streets in protest at the country’s political chaos.

“I was not surprised by the audacity of the Coordination Framework and its militias, when they announced to the entire nation that they are proceeding to convene parliament to form a government, while the blood of peaceful protesters who were killed treacherously by the militias has not yet dried,” said Sadrist spokesman Saleh Muhammad Al-Iraqi. “It is as if they were terrorists or Zionists and have no relation to the doctrine or the nation.”

He added that if the Framework bloc does not declare a period of mourning then he and his movement will be its “number one enemy” as of today. He appealed to Iran to rein-in its proxies in Iraq.

READ: Iraq cleric Sadr calls off protests after worst Baghdad violence in years

On Wednesday, the Iraqi Popular Mobilisation Forces buried the bodies of four of its fighters who were killed during armed clashes in the Green Zone in Baghdad. “The victims fell for the sake of their sacred duty and the protection of the state as a result of the bombing of the Popular Mobilisation Forces headquarters in the Green Zone with Katyusha bombs,” said the PMF.

Normal life has returned to the streets of Baghdad and near the Iraqi parliament after the withdrawal of the Sadrist movement protesters as instructed by leader Muqtada Al-Sadr yesterday.