Unrest grips Iraq on anniversary of power transfer

On the first anniversary of the US transfer of sovereignty to Iraqis, a protest has been held by those who feel the new administration has let them down. In the southern city of Samawa, demonstrators took to the streets because they had not been given jobs in the local police force. Protesters threw stones and police opened fire. Reports say they first shot in the air and then into the crowd. According to witnesses at least one demonstrator was killed and several were injured. In other violence, a bomber killed himself and three other people in a hospital in Musayyib, south of Baghdad. And in the northern city of Kirkuk, a car bomb killed two bodyguards in a failed attempt to assassinate the chief of the traffic police. Meanwhile Iraq’s oldest member of parliament died when an explosive device hit his convoy. Dhari al-Fayadh, aged 87, had presided over the first session of the assembly before a speaker was elected. Tonight US President George W Bush will use the anniversary of the handover of power to address the Iraq situation in a televised speech.

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