A wave of clashes and attacks involving Iraqi security forces, protesters and their supporters today left 53 people dead and prompted two Sunni ministers to quit, sending tensions soaring. The unrest, which also included the kidnapping of a soldier by armed protesters, was the deadliest so far linked to demonstrations in Sunni areas that erupted more than four months ago. The protesters have been demanding the resignation of Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and railing against the alleged targeting of their community by the authorities. Tuesday’s violence broke out before dawn when security forces entered an area where demonstrations have been held since January near Hawijah, west of Kirkuk province’s eponymous capital, according to army officers, who gave an overall toll of 27 people killed there and around 70 wounded. But accounts differed as to the spark for the bloodletting in the northern Iraqi province. One of the officers, a brigadier general from the army division responsible for the area, said the operation was aimed at Sunni militants from a group known as the Naqshbandiya Army, and that security forces only opened fire after they were fired upon. A second officer said 34 Kalashnikov assault rifles and four PKM machineguns were recovered at the scene. Two soldiers were killed and seven wounded in the operation, while the remainder of the casualties were a combination of protesters and militants, the officers said. Protesters, however, insisted the army had provoked the clashes. Security forces “invaded our sit-in today, burned the tents and opened fire indiscriminately and killed and wounded dozens of protesters,” Abdulmalik al-Juburi, a leader of the Hawijah sit-in, told AFP. “We only have four rifles to protect the sit-in, and there are no wanted people among us,” Juburi said. The dawn violence sparked revenge attacks. Thirteen gunmen were killed carrying out attacks on army checkpoints in the Al-Rashad and Al-Riyadh areas of Kirkuk province, the army officers said.
