CAIRO: Nearly 560 Iraqi protesters and security forces were killed in months of anti-government unrest that erupted last year, the government said on Thursday.
Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi’s new government has pledged to investigate the deaths and incarceration of hundreds of protesters in unrest that unseated the previous government last year.
The death toll is roughly in line with what news outlets and rights groups have reported.
The government will treat all 560 people as “martyrs” and each family will be offered 10 million diners ($8,380) in compensation, Hisham Daoud, the prime minister’s adviser, told reporters.
Protests began on Oct. 1 and continued for several months, with hundreds of thousands of Iraqis demanding jobs, services and the removal of the ruling elite, which they said was corrupt.
The protests caused the resignation of Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, who was replaced in May by Kadhimi, a former intelligence chief.
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Iraq says nearly 560 killed in anti-government unrest
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Iraq says nearly 560 killed in anti-government unrest
- Kadhimi new govt has pledged to investigate the deaths and incarceration of hundreds of protesters in unrest that unseated the previous government last year
US imposes sanctions on commanders of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group
WASHINGTON: The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on three commanders of the Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces over their role in the 18-month siege and capture of Al-Fashir, accusing the group of carrying out systematic and widespread killings.
The US Treasury Department in a statement announcing the sanctions accused the RSF of perpetrating “a horrific campaign of ethnic killings, torture, starvation, and sexual violence” during the siege and capture of Al-Fashir.
Darfur’s Al-Fashir fell to RSF forces in October 2025 after a long siege that led to mass killings.
The Treasury said that once the city was captured in October, RSF fighters accelerated systematic and widespread killings, detentions, and sexual violence, leaving no survivor, including civilians, unharmed. The Treasury accused the group of engaging in a systematic campaign to destroy evidence of mass killings by burying, burning and disposing of tens of thousands of bodies.
More than 100,000 were estimated to have fled Al-Fashir since late October after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces took control there following an 18-month siege that plunged the city into famine.
Survivors reported ethnically-motivated mass killings and widespread detentions during and after the takeover. Many people remain unaccounted for in Al-Fashir and surrounding areas.
“The United States calls on the Rapid Support Forces to commit to a humanitarian ceasefire immediately. We will not tolerate this ongoing campaign of terror and senseless killing in Sudan,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in the statement.
Among those targeted by the Treasury on Thursday were an RSF brigadier general the department said filmed himself killing unarmed civilians, as well as a major general and RSF field commander.
The US Treasury Department in a statement announcing the sanctions accused the RSF of perpetrating “a horrific campaign of ethnic killings, torture, starvation, and sexual violence” during the siege and capture of Al-Fashir.
Darfur’s Al-Fashir fell to RSF forces in October 2025 after a long siege that led to mass killings.
The Treasury said that once the city was captured in October, RSF fighters accelerated systematic and widespread killings, detentions, and sexual violence, leaving no survivor, including civilians, unharmed. The Treasury accused the group of engaging in a systematic campaign to destroy evidence of mass killings by burying, burning and disposing of tens of thousands of bodies.
More than 100,000 were estimated to have fled Al-Fashir since late October after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces took control there following an 18-month siege that plunged the city into famine.
Survivors reported ethnically-motivated mass killings and widespread detentions during and after the takeover. Many people remain unaccounted for in Al-Fashir and surrounding areas.
“The United States calls on the Rapid Support Forces to commit to a humanitarian ceasefire immediately. We will not tolerate this ongoing campaign of terror and senseless killing in Sudan,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in the statement.
Among those targeted by the Treasury on Thursday were an RSF brigadier general the department said filmed himself killing unarmed civilians, as well as a major general and RSF field commander.
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