Several Iraqis were killed on Monday after powerful Shi’ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said he would quit politics, prompting followers to storm the presidential compound in Baghdad.
A video uploaded on Monday appeared to show U.S. Embassy staff in Baghdad being evacuated via military helicopter. However, the White House denied those reports during a news briefing on Monday.
“There’s no evacuation going on at the embassy and no indication that’s going to be required at this time,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
Young men loyal to Sadr charged the government headquarters in Baghdad’s secure Green Zone, once a palace of dictator Saddam Hussein, and took to the streets outside the area where they skirmished with supporters of rival Tehran-backed groups. In addition to the five people killed, several dozen were injured, police and medical workers said, according to The Associated Press….