Five dead as protests rock Iraqi Kurdistan: medical official

(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Sulaimaniyah, Iraq:Five people were killed and dozens wounded in Iraqi Kurdistan Tuesday as security forces opened fire during clashes with protesters, an official said, as anger grew over a failed independence push.

Demonstrators torched the offices of two political parties in Raparin in the autonomous region's Sulaimaniyah province, said a spokesman for the local health department, Taha Mohammad.

"Clashes erupted with the security forces who opened fire, leaving five dead and at least 70 wounded," he said.

It came as protests broke out for a second day over the disastrous fallout from an independence referendum in September that delivered a resounding "yes" but drew sweeping reprisals from Baghdad.

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