Iraqi activist shot dead in Baghdad

Shafaq News / An Iraqi activist was killed on Tuesday when unidentified gunmen opened fire on him in Baghdad.

A security source said to Shafaq News Agency that the activist Salah Al-Iraqi has been shot dead in Baghdad Al-Jidida (New Baghdad) district."

Last July, The Iraqi government said that nearly 560 protesters and security forces were killed in months of anti-government unrest that erupted last year.

Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s new government has pledged to investigate the deaths and incarceration of hundreds of protesters in unrest that unseated the previous government last year.

The death toll is roughly in line with what news outlets and rights groups have reported.

Protests began on Oct. 1 and continued for several months, with hundreds of thousands of Iraqis demanding jobs, services and the removal of the ruling elite, which they said was corrupt.

The protests led to the resignation of Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, who was replaced in May by Al-Kadhimi, a former intelligence chief.