The Latest: Commission: 63 killed in Iraq protests in 2 days
BAGHDAD (AP) — The Latest on the nationwide protests in Iraq (all times local):
10:15 p.m.
Iraq's semi-official human rights commission says at least 63 protesters have been killed in two days of anti-government rallies in the capital and southern cities.
The Iraq High Commission for Human Rights says Saturday the most protesters killed were in the southern city of Nasiriyah, where 15 died.
At least 10 were killed in the capital, according to the commission, which said more than 2,500 protesters were injured in two days of rallies.
The Associated Press put the number of those killed at 49, including 12 who were killed in a fire in the southern city of Diwaniyeh, which the commission also accounted for.
Protests have resumed in Iraq after a wave of anti-government protests earlier this month were violently put down. At least 149 people were killed in a week of demonstrations earlier in October.
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6:10 p.m.
Iraqi officials say six protesters have been killed in clashes with security forces during nationwide anti-government protests.
A security official and a medical official say three people were killed when they were struck by tear gas canisters in Baghdad, where thousands of protesters were trying to reach the heavily fortified Green Zone, home to embassies and government offices.
A second medical official says three protesters were shot dead by security guards when they attacked the office of a provincial official in the southern town of Nasiriyah.
At least 48 people have been killed since the protests resumed this week, after 149 were killed in a wave of demonstrations earlier this month.
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Noon
The death toll from protests in Iraq has climbed to 42 after a senior government official in the country's south said 12 protesters died in a fire they started while storming the office of powerful militia during a rally there a day earlier.
The anti-government protests erupted Friday after leaderless, spontaneous revolts were violently quelled earlier this month in the war-torn country.
The southern official says that in Diwaniyah town, bodies were being removed on Saturday from a building belonging to a powerful militia where the protesters set it on fire on Friday.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't allowed to talk to reporters.
In the capital, Baghdad, protesters gathered again on Saturday in the central Tahrir Square but there were no immediate reports of violence.
