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After Forcing Way into Green Zone for Second Time, Curfew Is Declared | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Sadrist protestors breaking into the Green Zone, Reuters


Baghdad- Iraqi authorities recently imposed a curfew in the capital city of Iraq, Baghdad, which will last until further notice. The check in time was announced on Friday after Sadrist movement protestors broke into Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi’s office in the Green zone, the most common given name for the International Zone of Baghdad.

The break and enter is considered the second within three weeks. The Sadrist Movement is a chiefly Shi’ite Iraqi national movement led by Muqtada al-Sadr. The movement has been incessantly demonstrating against the Iraqi authorities in the last month.

After the protestors arriving to the Green Zone, large numbers of them took camp inside the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers and the Parliament building, despite security forces shooting out rounds of fire do disband the crowd.

“Hundreds of demonstrators stormed into Abadi’s office at the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers and the building of the parliament,” sources said.

Media reported three demonstrators dead and 22 others injured. Reinforcement was soon sent to the area to inhibit the flow of protestors.

Thousands of protestors had gathered at the Liberation Square then headed for the Green Zone, waving over the national flag, and screaming out slogans urging the national army not to side with corruption.

The registered security breach at the Green Zone was set off after Sadrists, what followers of the Sadrist movement are referred to, broke into the Green Zone last April. Their protests were sparked by the failure to form a new cabinet.

As for Anbar, the largest governorate in Iraq, over 35 ISIS militants were reportedly killed in an operation run at the border area between Jordan and Iraq.

Anbar governorate encompasses much of the country’s western territory and shares borders with Syria, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia.

Colonel Ahmed al-Dulaimi, speaking from inside the Anbar operation rooms, said that collaborative efforts of the Iraqi Army, police officers, tribal members and both the international coalition and Iraqi air campaigns, have successfully taken down 35 ISIS terrorists, and 5 armed vehicles have been destroyed.

The operation took place aiming to free the security station Bustan, which is located near the Iraq-Jordan border.

Al-Dulaimi added that security forces had spread across the premise, and are currently clearing the scene from land mines and explosives planted by the terrorist organization. He also added that the Trebil border crossing will be opened as soon as possible.

Trebil is a village in the Anbar Governorate of Iraq, on the Iraq-Jordan border.