KUT, Iraq, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- Iraqi security forces responded with live ammunition after demonstrators broke into a provincial official in the southern city of Kut, witnesses said Wednesday.
Protesters are angry with the Iraqi government because of the lack of jobs and basic services more than seven years after U.S.-led forces toppled the Baathist government of Saddam Hussein.
Witnesses in southern Wasit province told the Voices of Iraq news agency that demonstrators broke into a provincial building and set fire to several offices.
Police forces "were forced to open fire in order to keep the demonstrators away from the building … this wounded some of them," a witness told Voice of Iraq.
The news agency said all personnel in the provincial building were evacuated. About 2,000 people were reportedly involved in the demonstrations.
Wasit provincial officials announced Wednesday that a vehicle ban went into effect at 4 p.m. and lasting "until further notice."
Demonstrators across the region are inspired by the anti-government protests that brought down governments in Tunisia and Egypt.
The Iraq news agency adds that at least 10 mortar rounds were fired on U.S. and Iraqi patrols in Baghdad and a tribal elder was assassinated in Anbar province Wednesday.
