Opposition: Iraqi forces strike residential areas

The Iraqi opposition asserted on Sunday that the Iraqi Army bombarded residential areas it had lost control over in al-Nasereyah city, southern Iraq, as citizens broke into state-run offices.

AFP quoted the representative of the Higher Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, Hamid al-Bayati, as saying in a telephone call with the agency in London that the citizens attacked governmental headquarters including the headquarters of al-Nasereyah province and other state-run buildings.

Al-Bayati stated that the "regime's forces had bombarded randomly, using heavy artillery the residential areas it had already lost control." He added that his organization inside Iraq said these acts resulted in several deaths and other people were reported wounded, but he could not give the real number of the victims.

He said that some 15 Shiite men of religion were arrested in Baghdad on Saturday and in al-Hazemeyah district following the killing one of the Shiite's prominent men of religion, Ayatollah Muhammad Sadeq al-Sader.

Al-Bayati added that the Presidential guards forces deployed in al-Najaf and arrested several citizens, following bloody confrontations.