(MENAFN- Arab Times) British air strikes have killed nearly 1,000 fighters of the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq in the past 18 months, according to new Ministry of Defence figures. Figures released under Freedom of Information laws revealed 974 militants were killed in Royal Air Force (RAF) strikes in Iraq between September 2014, when the British bombing campaign began, and last month.
Another 22 were killed in Syria between January and March this year, following the decision by the British parliament to extend the mission to Syria in December. "Our records show that there were no civilian casualties for the period in question," the Ministry of Defence said in a statement released late Friday.
The ministry added that the numbers are estimates "based on post-strike analysis", noting that Britain "is not in a position to visit strike sites and verify the numbers of enemy killed". Britain is part of a US-led coalition fighting the IS group, which holds swathes of territory across Iraq and Syria and which claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks in November and Brussels attacks in March.
Meanwhile, a car bomb targeting Shiite pilgrims killed at least 23 people near Baghdad on Saturday, as hundreds protested in the capital for reforms and parliament made another attempt to reshuffle the cabinet. Iraq has been hit by weeks of political turmoil surrounding Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's efforts to change the government. Both Washington and the United Nations have warned the crisis could distract from the fight against the Islamic State (IS) group, which carries out frequent bombings against civilians.
The car bomb, which also wounded at least 38 people, struck a road in the Nahrawan area used by Shiite pilgrims who are walking to the shrine of Imam Musa Kadhim in northern Baghdad for annual commemorations, officials said. IS claimed the attack and said it was carried out by a suicide bomber who detonated a vehicle laden with three tonnes of explosives.
IS considers Iraq's majority Shiites to be heretics. Kadhim, the seventh of 12 imams revered in Shiite Islam, died in 799 AD. The pilgrimage has in recent years turned into a huge event that brings the Iraqi capital to a standstill for days. IS overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, but Iraqi forces backed by US-led military assistance have since regained signficant ground.
The jihadists still control a large part of western Iraq, and are able to carry out frequent attacks against both civilians and security forces in government-held areas. Last year's pilgrimage was also marred by attacks against worshippers that killed at least 13 people. And four more were burned or shot to death when mobs torched houses and a Sunni religious endowment building after rumours of a suicide bomber sparked panic among a crowd of pilgrims.
In other news, Iraqi anti-government protesters tore down walls and poured into the capital's heavily-fortified Green Zone on Saturday, where they stormed parliament in a major escalation of a monthslong political crisis. Supporters of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have been holding demonstrations and sit-ins for months to demand an overhaul of Iraq's corrupt and ineffective political system, but Saturday was the first time they broke into the Green Zone, home to most government ministries and foreign embassies.
Iraqi security forces fired tear gas at one entrance of the zone but appeared to be largely standing down as protesters marched through the area, chanting and waving Iraqi flags. Hundreds were still pouring into the Green Zone as night fell. Iraq has been mired in a political crisis for months, hindering the government's ability to combat the Islamic State group - which still controls much of the country's north and west - or address a financial crisis largely caused by the plunge in global oil prices. Al-Sadr's supporters have demanded an overhaul of the political system put in place following the US-led invasion in 2003, in which entrenched political blocs representing the country's Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds rely on patronage, resulting in widespread corruption and poor public services.
The major blocs have until now stymied the reform efforts of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who has sought to address the protesters' demands. Earlier Saturday, al-Sadr repeated accusations that Iraqi politicians are responsible for blocking political reforms. He did not call for an escalation in the protests, but shortly after his remarks, his supporters began scaling the compound's walls. A group of young men then pulled down a section of concrete blast walls to cheers from the crowd of thousands gathered in the streets outside.
The Green Zone has long been the focus of al-Sadr's allegations that the government is detached from the people. The compound is off-limits to the vast majority of Iraqis, as security procedures require multiple checks and specific documentation to enter. Shortly after the breach, cellphone videos uploaded to social media showed dozens of young men running through the halls of parliament, chanting slogans in support of al-Sadr and calling for the government to disband.
"We are all with you (al-Sadr)," one group of men yelled as they entered the building's main chamber. Other videos showed a group of young men slapping an Iraqi lawmaker as he attempted to flee the crowd, and protesters mobbing another lawmaker's motorcade inside the Green Zone.
The footage appeared authentic and corresponded with The Associated Press' reporting. Iraqi security forces initially responded by tightening security across the capital, sealing off checkpoints leading to the Green Zone and halting traffic on main roads heading into the city, according to the Baghdad Operations Command. But Iraq's elite counterterrorism forces, who have in the past been called on to reinforce security in the capital, said they are standing down for now.
"We still view this as a demonstration," said Sabah al-Numan, spokesman for the counterterrorism forces. "We aren't taking any part in this as it's not something regarding terrorism." He added, however, that if the unrest escalates his forces may be forced to intervene to "protect the legitimacy of the government." The UN mission to Iraq said it was "gravely concerned." It issued a statement condemning violence against elected officials and urging "calm, restraint and respect for Iraq's constitutional institutions at this crucial juncture."
A broad-based protest movement last summer mobilized millions and pressured al-Abadi to submit a series of austerity proposals that he said would also fight corruption. As political progress stalled, al-Sadr's movement has come to monopolize the protests in recent months. Al-Abadi presented a second proposal earlier this month to reduce the size of the Cabinet and replace political appointees with independent technocrats. But opposition from the very political blocs the proposal aimed to weaken stalled his efforts. Iraq is meanwhile struggling to maintain security in and around Baghdad, even as it has pushed IS militants back on a number of fronts elsewhere in the country.
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