Shafaq News/ Nearly 70 security personnel were wounded during protests in Baghdad and several other Shiite-dominated provinces, the Interior Ministry said on Friday.

"The forces that dealt with the demonstrators are the law-enforcement forces exclusively," the Ministry’s spokesman ,Khaled al-Muhanna said, adding that "there is a lot of cooperation between the security forces and the demonstrators."

He added that "the number of casualties among the security forces reached 68," adding that "cooperation between security forces and demonstrators help us know the planted people."

"We do not interfere in determining the place of demonstration and our mission is to protect demonstrators anywhere in the country's provinces," he added.

As of Friday noon, two demonstrators were killed and dozens injured, including security personnel and journalists, after tear gas was fired to disperse protesters from entering the Green Zone.