Three protesters shot dead near Iraq capital’s Tahrir Square: Sources

Three protesters were killed on Saturday in Baghdad, medics and police sources told AFP, as Iraqi security forces cleared streets around Tahrir Square, the heart of the month-long movement demanding regime change.

Two suffered bullet wounds and the third died when a tear gas canister pierced his skull, the sources said, adding that at least 80 more protesters were wounded.

Earlier on Saturday, Iraqi Prime Minister AdilAbdul Mahdi said that the government and judiciary will continue to investigate deathsand that all detainees will be released, promising a new electoral reform "in the coming few days.”

This comes after ten people were killed in Iraq’s southern city of Basra during overnight protests where security forces used live gunfire to disperse hundreds of demonstrators who tried to force their way into the local government headquarters, medical sources told Al Arabiya on Saturday.

On Friday, Iraq’s top Shia cleric said that it was up to the security forces to make sure protests do not descend into further violence, and urged the government to respond to demonstrators’ demands as soon as possible.

"The biggest responsibility is on the security forces,” a representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani saidin a sermon after Friday prayer in the Shia Muslim holy city of Kerbala.

In another development, an Al Arabiya correspondent reported that internet access across Iraq has been cut.