Gunmen kill 15 and wound dozens near Tahrir Square

Iraq’s top Shiite cleric said that a new prime minister must be chosen without foreign interference in an apparent nod to Iranian influence as gunmen killed at least 15 people near a Baghdad protest site on Friday. Security and medical officials say at least two of the dead were policeman, killed when unidentified assailants opened fire on crowds of protesters from inside vehicles.

Iraqi officials said more than 20 others were wounded in the shooting in Baghdad’s Khilani Square, near the capital’s main protest camp in Tahrir Square, a week after Iraqi prime minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said he would resign following two months of anti-government protests.

Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani’s comments followed reports that a senior Iranian commander had been in Baghdad this week to rally support for a new government that would continue to serve Shi’ite Iran’s interests. The influential cleric has repeatedly condemned the killing of unarmed protesters and has also urged demonstrators to remain peaceful and stop saboteurs turning their opposition violent.

Mr Al Sistani urged political leaders to abandon partisan politics in choosing a new head of government and said he would have no involvement in efforts to replace Mr Abdul Mahdi. “We hope a new head of government and its members will be chosen within the constitutional deadline” of 15 days since the resignation was formalised in parliament on Sunday, Mr Al Sistani said in his Friday sermon read out by his representative in the city of Karbala.

“It must also take place without any foreign interference,” he said. Mr Abdul Mahdi pledged to step down last Friday after Mr Al Sistani urged parliament to reconsider their support for the government following two months of anti-establishment protests during which security forces have killed more than 400 demonstrators.

Iraq’s two main allies, the United States and Iran, have acted as power brokers in the country since the 2003 US invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, although Tehran’s allies have mostly dominated state institutions since then. Iranian officials including the powerful commander of its Revolutionary Guards’ elite Quds Force, Qassem Suleimani, stepped in to prevent Mr Abdul Mahdi’s resignation in October.