Iraq’s ‘Umm Qasr’ port operations hit

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BASRA, Iraq, Oct 29, (Agencies): Iraq’s Umm Qasr commodities port near Basra was operating at only around 20 percent of the normal level on Tuesday after protesters blocked its entrance, port employees and local officials said.

“Port operations were reduced to 20 percent because the replacement workers couldn’t join the work,” said a port manager. Thousands of Iraqis have taken to the streets this week in a second wave of protests against a government and a political elite they say is corrupt and out of touch. The death toll since a broader wave of unrest started on Oct 1 is at least 250.

Umm Qasr receives Iraqi imports of grain, vegetable oils and sugar shipments that feed a country largely dependent on imported food. Local officials say they have held talks with protesters to try to persuade them to allow shift workers to enter the port so it can start operating normally.

Masked gunmen opened fire at Iraqi protesters in the Shiite holy city of Karbala on Tuesday, killing 18 people and wounding hundreds, security officials said, in one of the deadliest single attacks since anti-government demonstrations erupted earlier this month. The overnight attack came as Iraqis took to the streets for a fifth straight day after a hiatus in the demonstrations that began earlier this month to protest government corruption, a lack of jobs and municipal services and other grievances.

The earlier protests also saw violence against protesters, and a total of 240 people have been killed since the unrest began. But the bloodshed in Karbala could mark a turning point because of the high death toll and because the city is a major pilgrimage site where a revered Shiite figure was killed in a 7th century battle.

There were differing accounts and death tolls, and details were still emerging from the scene. It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack, and protesters said they did not know whether the masked men were riot police, special forces or Iran-linked militias.

The protesters said Iraqi soldiers had been stationed around the protest site but withdrew after the attackers began firing tear-gas and live ammunition. Amid a clampdown by security forces, it was difficult to piece together what exactly prompted the attack although eyewitnesses told The Associated Press that masked gunmen opened fire on the camp. Provincial governor Nassif al-Khutabi denied that any protesters were killed but said there were some injuries among security forces.

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