Poor Security Gets Worse

The Iraqi parliament’s speaker Mahmud al-Mashhadani has said security is getting worse in some residential areas such as al-Hurriya district. Gangs are exploiting the security vacuum to engage in killings and force out poor people. Mashhadani said that the reconciliation process was being held up because armed militias are still fighting one another, and that members of parliament and political party leaders who retain links to the paramilitaries could do a lot to end the conflict.