Middle East country Iran closed its land borders to Iraq as flights to the country halted Tuesday amid violence in Baghdad following an influential Shiite cleric’s announcement he would resign from politics, reports VOA.
The decision came as millions of Iranians were preparing to visit Iraq for annual pilgrimage to Shiite sites.
The death toll rose to 20 Iraqis on Tuesday after the unrest erupted the previous day.
Iraq’s military said four rockets were launched into the heavily fortified Green Zone, the seat of Iraq’s government where armed clashes raged overnight between a militia royal to Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and Iraqi security forces.
Bd-pratidin English/Golam Rosul
