SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq -- Kurdish security guards opened fire Thursday on a crowd of protesters calling for political reforms in northern Iraq, killing at least two people, officials said, showing even war-weary Iraq cannot escape the unrest roiling the Middle East.
Separately, a car bomb killed eight people and wounded 30 others in Muqdadiyah, 60 miles (90 kilometers) north of Baghdad, an official said. The area was once one of the strongholds of al-Qaida, and insurgents there stage frequent attacks despite improved security in much of the country.
The demonstration in Sulaimaniyah was the most violent in a wave of protests that extended to the southern cities of Kut, Nasir and Basra. Iraq has seen small-scale demonstrations almost daily in recent weeks, mainly centered in the impoverished southern provinces and staged by Iraqis angry over a lack of basic services like electricity and clean drinking water.
