According to AFP a protester was killed and at least 30 others were wounded today in demonstrations in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's northern Kurdish region. Some reports says the number of dead is higher, between two and five. AFP was quoting a senior doctor. "We have received one dead body, which received gunshots, and are treating more than 30 other people," said the doctor in Sulaimaniyah province's health department, on condition of anonymity.

According to the news coming through protesters had attempted to storm the local offices of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of regional president Massud Barzani when security forces fired into the air in a bid to disperse the crowd. Nearly 3,000 people, the majority of them younger than 30, had been marching towards the headquarters of the KDP and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) of Iraqi president Jalal Talabani, the two parties that have lorded over the autonomous region for decades.

While on the way to the two parties' offices, the protesters chanted, "Government resign", "Work for the unemployed" and "The corrupt must face justice".The demonstrators began throwing stones at the two buildings, which lie near each other in the centre of Sulaimaniyah, 270 kilometres (170 miles) north of Baghdad, and then attempted to storm the KDP headquarters.

At that point, security fired their weapons into the air, and members of the local Asayesh forces and policemen have taken positions on the street.