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At least 13 people have been killed in Iraq in a fresh wave of protests in the southern city of Nasiriya. Security forces opened fire and used tear gas on Thursday to clear two bridges blocked by protesters.

Denmark’s government offered to lead the NATO mission to train Iraqi forces, saying it was prepared to send 200 personnel to Iraq next year. The year-old NATO mission, which provides more than 500 personnel to train and advise Iraqi troops, is currently led by Canada, whose time in charge ends in 2020.

United Nations investigators have so far identified 160 Islamic State militants accused of massacres of Yazidis in northern Iraq in 2014 and are building legal cases against them, the head of the team told the UN Security Council on Tuesday.

The UN and US have urged the Iraqi government to stop using violence against protesters, pass electoral reforms and hold early elections. … The UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (Unami) warned on Sunday that an accumulation of frustrations about the lack of progress in Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003 was "clearly perceptible", and that with the rising numbers of deaths "a climate of anger and fear" had set in.

Guterres expresses his serious concern over rising number of deaths, injuries during ongoing demonstrations in Iraq.

The UN’s most senior official in Iraq, visited protesters in central Baghdad on Wednesday, calling for “a national dialogue to identify prompt, meaningful responses to break the vicious cycle of violence” which has roiled the country during the past five days.

On Monday Iraq's military admitted to using "excessive force outside the rules of engagement" to counter the protests from the day before. It was the first time since protests began on October 2 that the security forces acknowledged the severity of their response to the protests. Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi ordered police to replace the army in Sadr City, the Shiite-dominated neighborhood east of the Iraqi capital.

The United Nations has called for an end to the "senseless loss of life" in Iraq as the death toll from anti-government protests nears 100. Demonstrators say they are taking a stand against unemployment, poor public services and corruption in the country. Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, head of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq, said: "Five days of deaths and injuries: this must stop."

Iraq's security and paramilitary forces began Sunday a military operation along the border with Syria aimed at clearing the area of Islamic State group militants, the military said in a statement.