BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraqi officials say hundreds of anti-government protesters have clashed again with security forces in a key Baghdad square and in southern Iraq.
The demonstrators turned out in defiance of a powerful Iraqi religious leader who recently withdrew his support from the popular movement.
The Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights said 12 protesters had been killed in the last 48 hours, with nine of those in Baghdad, and 230 wounded.
The mass protests began in October and are demanding the overhaul of Iraq's sectarian system.
Separately, American military officials say five Katyusha rockets crashed into a river bank near the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone without causing any injuries or serious damages.
