BAGHDAD -- Iraq's prime minister appealed Thursday to Iraqis to postpone today's weekly protests so that security forces can focus on a key military operation aimed at retaking Fallujah from the Islamic State extremist group.
For months, anti-government protesters, mainly followers of influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, have been holding protests every Friday outside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone and in other provinces, demanding changes to a political system widely seen as corrupt and ineffectual.
Later Thursday, officials reported that 12 people were killed in separate attacks in the Iraqi capital and nearby towns. The deadliest attack took place in Tarmiya, a town 30 miles north of Baghdad, where a booby-trapped house exploded as security forces entered, killing five troops and wounding three others.
A bomb went off in a commercial area of Baghdad's southern Abu Disher neighborhood, killing three shoppers and wounding 10 people. Two other bombs struck in a commercial area in the northern district of Saba al-Bor and the town of Mishahda, killing four people and wounding 16.
Information for this article was contributed by Murtada Faraj of The Associated Press.
A Section on 05/27/2016