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Sadr announces hunger strike as 20 killed in Baghdad clashes

Clashes between rival Shiite groups, the Sadrists and the Popular Mobilization Units, have left more than 20 dead and hundreds injured.
A supporter of Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr sits with his portrait during the weekly Friday prayers.

Hundreds of supporters of Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr stormed the government palace early Monday morning. This is the third building they have stormed in the past month, after similar incidents at the parliament and the judiciary headquarters.

This happened after Ayatollah Sayyed Kadhim al-Haeri, a religious authority close to the Shiite militias that are rivals to the Sadrists, condemned protests by Sadr's followers and criticized their leader, saying he was not qualified to be a leader for the Sadrists.

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