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By Ahmed Rasheed
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq on its security forces on high alert on Saturday, in response to ongoing protests in the country's southern provinces over poor government services and corruption.
The nationwide order was issued Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who also served as commander of the armed forces, in a directive seen by Reuters.
Reinforcing troops from both the Counter Terrorism Service and the Army's Ninth Division to basra, where demonstrators gathered for the sixth consecutive day, to help protect the province's oil fields, security sources said.
The directive came into an effort to stem the burgeoning protests, which on Friday spread of oil-city Basra – where Umm Qasr – to the cities of Amara, Nasiriya and the Shi'ite holy city of Najaf
Hundreds of Iraqis stormed the airport and on the air in Najaf on Friday.
Iraq 's top Shi'ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al – Sistani, with their protesters, saying they faced an "extreme lack of public services"
Sistani, who has millions of followers, rarely intervenes in politics, but has wide range of public opinion.
PROTESTS CONTINUES
On Saturday, protagonists were demonstrating at the Safwan border crossing with Kuwait as 40 km north of Basra, local security sources said.
Any of the major oilfields in the United States.
Oil exports from Basra account for more than 95 percent of the OPEC producer. potential disruptions to production could severely impact the country's limping economy.
Abadi is heading to a frail caretaker
Iraqi politicians face growing unrest as they try to form a coalition government
A political bloc led by cleric Moqtada al-Sadr won a majority in the poll on an anti-corruption platform which had appeal to Iraq's electorate.
(Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed in Baghdad, additional reporting by Aref Mohammed in Basra, writing by Raya Jalabi, Editing by Michael Georgy and Mark Potter)
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