IMIS deploys snipers to counter protests in Baghdad: Source
The
Iranian-backed IMIS militias deployed snipers in Baghdad last month to counter
massive protests against government, security sources from Iraq said.
Earlier
this month thousands of Iraqis took to the streets in Baghdad and several other
southern provinces to call for government resignation as the country still
struggles with wide-spread corruption, lack of services, high rate of unemployment.
Different
sources working at high-level ranks in Baghdad told Reuters that Hashd
al-Shaabi leaders decided on their own during the protests to face the
protesters.
“We
have confirmed evidence that the snipers were elements of militias reporting
directly to their commander instead of the chief commander of the armed
forces,” Reuters quoted one of the Iraqi security sources. “They belong to a
group that is very close to the Iranians.”
A
second Iraqi security source, who attended daily government security briefings,
said militia men clad in black shot protesters on the third day of unrest, when
the death toll soared to more than 50 from about half a dozen.
The
fighters were directed by Abu Zainab al-Lami, head of security for the Hashd
al-Shaabi.
The
second security source told Reuters that the snipers were using radio
communications equipment that was provided by Iran and is difficult to
intercept, giving the groups an essentially private network.