<p class="title">Two protesters were killed and dozens wounded in overnight clashes with security forces in Iraq's capital Baghdad, security and medical sources told AFP on Thursday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Anti-government demonstrators have spread out from their main protest camp on Tahrir (Liberation) Square onto three bridges linking the two banks of the River Tigris.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Security forces have erected concrete barriers on the bridges to hold protesters back, and late on Wednesday they fired tear gas and live ammunition at crowds gathering on the Al-Sinek and Al-Ahrar bridges.</p>.<p class="bodytext">One protester was shot dead by a live round and another died from a trauma wound sustained by a tear gas canister.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Rights groups have slammed security forces for firing the military-grade gas grenades directly at protesters instead of up in the air.</p>.<p class="bodytext">When shot at close range, the canisters can pierce demonstrators' skulls or chest, and advocacy groups have documented around two dozen such deaths.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The overnight confrontation also injured more than 50 people, including at least six who sustained gunshot wounds.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Authorities fear crowds could use the Al-Sinek bridge to reach the Iranian embassy in Baghdad and cross the adjacent Al-Ahrar bridge, further north, to protest at the Central Bank and other government buildings.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Protesters in Tahrir have slammed Tehran for propping up an Iraqi government they see as corrupt and inefficient, even accusing it of backing the use of violence against them.</p>.<p class="bodytext">More than 330 people have been killed since the protests broke out on October 1, according to an AFP toll, as authorities have stopped providing updated or precise figures.</p>
<p class="title">Two protesters were killed and dozens wounded in overnight clashes with security forces in Iraq's capital Baghdad, security and medical sources told AFP on Thursday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Anti-government demonstrators have spread out from their main protest camp on Tahrir (Liberation) Square onto three bridges linking the two banks of the River Tigris.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Security forces have erected concrete barriers on the bridges to hold protesters back, and late on Wednesday they fired tear gas and live ammunition at crowds gathering on the Al-Sinek and Al-Ahrar bridges.</p>.<p class="bodytext">One protester was shot dead by a live round and another died from a trauma wound sustained by a tear gas canister.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Rights groups have slammed security forces for firing the military-grade gas grenades directly at protesters instead of up in the air.</p>.<p class="bodytext">When shot at close range, the canisters can pierce demonstrators' skulls or chest, and advocacy groups have documented around two dozen such deaths.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The overnight confrontation also injured more than 50 people, including at least six who sustained gunshot wounds.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Authorities fear crowds could use the Al-Sinek bridge to reach the Iranian embassy in Baghdad and cross the adjacent Al-Ahrar bridge, further north, to protest at the Central Bank and other government buildings.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Protesters in Tahrir have slammed Tehran for propping up an Iraqi government they see as corrupt and inefficient, even accusing it of backing the use of violence against them.</p>.<p class="bodytext">More than 330 people have been killed since the protests broke out on October 1, according to an AFP toll, as authorities have stopped providing updated or precise figures.</p>