BAGHDAD<\/strong><\/p>\nThe shelling targeted Baghdad\u2019s high-security Green Zone Monday, a security source said after Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr said he was quitting politics, sparking chaos in which 15 of his supporters were killed.<\/p>\n
Tensions have soared in Iraq amid a political crisis that has left the country without a new government, prime minister or president for months, and escalated sharply after Sadr\u2019s supporters stormed the government palace following their leader\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n
At least seven shells fell in the high-security Green Zone, which houses government buildings and diplomatic missions, the security source said late Monday on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n
It was not immediately clear who was behind the shelling, which was followed by the sound of automatic weapons being fired in the Green Zone.<\/p>\n
The security source said Sadr\u2019s supporters opened fire at the Green Zone from the outside, adding that security forces inside \u201cwere not responding\u201d.<\/p>\n
Shots were fired earlier in the fortified area, an AFP correspondent said, and medics said 15 Sadr supporters had been shot dead and 350 other protesters injured \u2014 some with bullet wounds and others suffering tear gas inhalation.<\/p>\n
Witnesses said earlier that Sadr loyalists and supporters of a rival Shiite bloc, the pro-Iran Coordination Framework, had exchanged fire.<\/p>\n
The Framework condemned an \u201cattack on state institutions\u201d, urging the Sadrists to engage in \u201cdialogue\u201d.<\/p>\n
The army had announced a nationwide curfew from 7:00 pm (1600 GMT).<\/p>\n
Caretaker Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi said \u201csecurity or military forces, or armed men\u201d were prohibited from opening fire on protesters.<\/p>\n
Calling the earlier developments \u201can extremely dangerous escalation\u201d, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) urged \u201call\u201d sides to \u201crefrain from acts that could lead to an unstoppable chain of events\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe very survival of the state is at stake,\u201d it warned.<\/p>\n
The United States also urged calm amid the \u201cdisturbing\u201d reports of unrest in Baghdad.<\/p>\n
\u2018Definitive retirement\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\nProtests spread to other parts of the country, with Sadr followers storming government buildings in the cities of Nasiriyah and Hillah south of Baghdad, an AFP correspondent and witnesses said.<\/p>\n
Shortly after he made his surprise declaration, Sadr\u2019s followers burst into the Republican Palace in Baghdad, where cabinet meetings are usually held.<\/p>\n
Inside the opulent palace, protesters lounged in armchairs in a meeting room, some waved Iraqi flags and took photographs of themselves, and others cooled off in a swimming pool in the garden.<\/p>\n
Sadr \u2014 a grey-bearded preacher with millions of devoted followers, who once led a militia against American and Iraqi government forces \u2014 announced earlier on Twitter he was stepping back from politics.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve decided not to meddle in political affairs. I, therefore, announce now my definitive retirement,\u201d said Sadr, a longtime player in the war-torn country\u2019s political scene, though he himself has never directly been in government.<\/p>\n
He added that \u201call the institutions\u201d linked to his Sadrist movement will be closed, except the mausoleum of his father, assassinated in 1999, and other heritage facilities.<\/p>\n
His latest statement came two days after he said: that \u201call parties\u201d including his own should give up government positions in order to help resolve the political crisis.<\/p>\n
His bloc emerged from last year\u2019s election as the biggest, with 73 seats, but short of a majority.<\/p>\n
In June, his lawmakers quit in a bid to break the logjam, which led to the Coordination Framework becoming the largest bloc in the legislature.<\/p>\n
Hamzeh Hadad, from the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), said it was \u201cnot clear\u201d what Sadr\u2019s strategy was.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever it does mean, in typical Sadrist fashion, there is always backtracking expected,\u201d Hadad said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe second, and more terrifying thought on this is that he is giving his followers the green light to do whatever they like.\u201d<\/p>\n
Millions of followers<\/strong><\/p>\nIraq has been mired in political deadlock since legislative elections in October last year, due to disagreement between Shiite factions over forming a coalition.<\/p>\n
Sadr\u2019s supporters have been calling for parliament to be dissolved and for new elections.<\/p>\n
But on Saturday the cleric said it was \u201cmore important\u201d that \u201call parties and figures who have been part of the political process\u201d since the 2003 US-led invasion \u201cno longer participate\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat includes the Sadrist movement,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Sadr\u2019s supporters have for weeks been staging a sit-in outside Iraq\u2019s parliament, after storming the legislature\u2019s interior on July 30, to press their demands.<\/p>\n
The Coordination Framework wants a new head of government to be appointed before any new polls are held.<\/p>\n
Kadhemi had earlier this month convened crisis talks with party leaders, but the Sadrists boycotted.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n
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