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At least 15 people have been killed and around 60 others wounded after gunmen opened fire on protesters in Baghdad, Iraqi security and medical officials have said.Protesters fearing for their lives ran from Khilani Square to nearby Tahrir Square and mosques to take cover.Security sources said they could not identify the gunmen and no group has claimed responsibility.The attack came as anti-government demonstrators occupied parts of Jumhuriya, Sinak and Ahar bridges in a stand-off with security forces.All the bridges lead to or near the heavily fortified Green Zone, the seat of Iraq's government."We are under live fire now with electric power cut, the wounded and martyrs are here and the bullets were fired in Sinak Bridge," one protester told Reuters.The attack on Friday came a day after a series of suspicious stabbing incidents targeting protesters left at least 13 wounded in Baghdad's Tahrir Square, the epicentre of Iraq's protest movement.Those attacks, carried out by unknown perpetrators, occurred as demonstrators supporting political parties and Iran-backed militias withdrew from the square.At least 400 protesters and a dozen members of the security forces have died since the uprising started on 1 October, with thousands of Iraqis taking to the streets in Baghdad and the predominantly Shia southern Iraq.The protesters are calling for an end to corruption, poor services, lack of jobs and the political system that was imposed after the 2003 US invasion.Meanwhile, Iraq's top Shia Muslim cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al Sistani has said a new prime minister must be chosen without foreign interference in an apparent nod to Iranian influence.It comes a week after Iraq's prime minister, Adel Abdul-Mahdi, said he would resign over the protests.In his Friday sermon in the city of Kerbala, Mr al Sistani said "we hope a new head of government and its members will be chosen within the constitutional deadline" of 15 days since Mr Mahdi's resignation was formalised in parliament on Sunday."It must also take place without any foreign interference," he added.
