Protester Killed in Iraq's Kurdistan Region after Days of Unrest

A protester was shot dead during demonstrations against Kurdish political parties. (Reuters)
A protester was shot dead during demonstrations against Kurdish political parties. (Reuters)
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Protester Killed in Iraq's Kurdistan Region after Days of Unrest

A protester was shot dead during demonstrations against Kurdish political parties. (Reuters)
A protester was shot dead during demonstrations against Kurdish political parties. (Reuters)

A protester was shot dead during demonstrations against Kurdish political parties in the northern, Kurdish-run region of Iraq on Monday after several days of unrest, local medical officials and a lawmaker said.

It was a rare deadly incident involving protests against the political parties that run the autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq, over delayed payment of public sector salaries.

The officials, including medics at a local hospital, said the protester had been shot by armed men guarding the headquarters of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in the town of Chamchamal, west of the city of Sulaimaniya.

Demonstrators have taken to the streets in and around Sulaimaniya for several days demanding their salaries and criticizing the KDP and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), which controls the Sulaimaniya area.

The KDP-dominated Kurdish regional government, based in Erbil, has been hit by a nationwide economic crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has seen Iraq’s oil revenues slashed.

Iraq depends on oil exports for virtually all its state revenue, including some 250,000 barrels per day from Kurdish areas.



Far-Right Israeli Minister Ben-Gvir Visits Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound

 Palestinians attend Eid al-Fitr holiday celebrations by the Dome of the Rock shrine in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians attend Eid al-Fitr holiday celebrations by the Dome of the Rock shrine in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP)
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Far-Right Israeli Minister Ben-Gvir Visits Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound

 Palestinians attend Eid al-Fitr holiday celebrations by the Dome of the Rock shrine in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians attend Eid al-Fitr holiday celebrations by the Dome of the Rock shrine in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP)

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City on Wednesday, his spokesperson said, prompting strong condemnation from Jordan and Palestinian group Hamas.

The firebrand politician was visiting the site, which is sacred to Jews and Muslims, in occupied east Jerusalem after returning to the Israeli government last month following the resumption of the war against Hamas in Gaza.

Ben-Gvir had quit the cabinet in January in protest at the ceasefire agreement in the Palestinian territory.

Since the formation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government at the end of 2022, Ben-Gvir has made several trips to the Al-Aqsa compound, each time triggering international outcry.

In a statement, the Jordanian Foreign Ministry condemned Wednesday’s visit as a “storming” and “an unacceptable provocation.”

Hamas called it a “provocative and dangerous escalation,” saying the visit was “part of the ongoing genocide against our Palestinian people.”

“We call on our Palestinian people and our youth in the West Bank to escalate their confrontation... in defense of our land and our sanctities, foremost among them the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque,” it said in a statement.

The site is Islam’s third-holiest and a symbol of Palestinian national identity.

Known to Jews as the Temple Mount, it is also Judaism’s holiest place, revered as the site of the second temple destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.

Under the status quo maintained by Israel, which has occupied east Jerusalem and its Old City since 1967, Jews and other non-Muslims are allowed to visit the compound during specified hours, but they are not permitted to pray there or display religious symbols.

Ben-Gvir’s spokesperson told AFP the minister “went there because the site was opened (for non-Muslims) after 13 days,” during which access was reserved for Muslims for the festival of Eid al-Fitr and the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

In recent years, growing numbers of Jewish ultranationalists have defied the rules, including Ben-Gvir, who publicly prayed there in 2023 and 2024.

The Israeli government has said repeatedly that it intends to uphold the status quo at the compound but Palestinian fears about its future have made it a flashpoint for violence.