US diplomatic missions behind Basra unrest: Iraqi group

Iraq's Hashd al-Sha’abi says it has evidence showing US diplomatic missions in the Arab country have instigated the recent violence in the southern oil-rich city of Basra.

"We have complete information and documents that show the US embassy and consulate in the country caused the Basra unrest," Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of the volunteer anti-terror fighters, said on Sunday.

Basra has been rocked by deadly protests since Tuesday. The protests took an ugly turn on Friday when a group of masked assailants raided government buildings and offices of political parties and set them ablaze. The Iranian consulate was among the premises gutted in the rampage. 

Muhandis held Washington responsible for the Basra unrest, saying it was actually meant to sow discord among different Iraqi political parties and movements.

He also vowed to respond to the Basra incidents and stressed that the Iraqis would never engage in another civil war.

President Fuad Masum condemned the attacks on buildings, including the Iranian consulate, and called for an immediate investigation into the raids.

In a statement released on Saturday, he said "some extremists" had hijacked the protests to attack Iraqi and foreign buildings.

Masum underlined the need for boosting "brotherly relations" with Iran, which was famously the first country to rush to Iraq's help in 2014 when Daesh terrorists reached the gates of Baghdad.  

Protesters in Basra are angry about endemic corruption, collapsing infrastructure, poor public services, high rates of poverty, soaring unemployment, and contamination of potable water.

At least 15 protesters have died in clashes with security forces since the beginning of the month, health officials have said. 

Security forces were deployed to patrol the streets of Basra before officials eventually lifted a curfew that was imposed in the wake of the protests.

MG