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Protesters Torch KDP Offices in Iraq

by VOA News

   Protesters set fire to the offices of the ruling party Monday in Iraq's
   semi-autonomous Kurdish region amid widespread protests over unpaid
   salaries and suspected corruption.

   Kurds demanding the resignation of the ruling Kurdish Democratic Party
   torched its offices in the city of Sulaimaniyah in northern Iraq.
   Reporters for VOA's Kurdish Service said fires were also set at offices
   of the the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), Change Movement, Islamic
   Union of Kurdistan (Yekgirtu), and Islamic Group (Komela), all in
   Sulaimania province.

   The Kurdish Service said demonstrations were taking place across much
   of the province, sparked by frustration over unpaid salaries to
   teachers and other civil servants, a lack of basic services and
   suspicions of rampant corruption.

   No casualties were immediately reported.

   Tensions have been high in Kurdish Iraq in the wake of a failed
   referendum for independence in September -- a vote that Baghdad deemed
   illegal.