The UN special representative for Iraq urged "the authorities to avoid using disproportionate, lethal force against the demonstrators."

Five protesters were killed and 16 more were injured during a second night of clashes with security forces in Iraq's main southern city Basra on Tuesday, September 4, local health and security sources said.

Police used teargas to disperse around 3,000 protesters who gathered on Sunday outside the provincial government headquarters in the southern oil hub of Basra.

US oil giant Chevron has finalized a basic agreement to develop key oil fields in Iraq’s southern province of Basra.

Fresh protests against poor economic conditions in southern Iraq have left at least one person killed bringing the total number of fatalities in two weeks of unrest that has shaken the country to nine. 

Iraqi police say around 250 people have held a protest at the main entrance to a major oilfield near the Iraqi city of Basra.

Iraq’s health ministry says eight people have so far been killed in daily protests in southern Iraq over the past week.

Earlier in the day, hundreds of protesters rallied in Basra, where police used water cannons and tear gas.

Situation returns to normal at the airport in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf after protesters decrying economic hardship withdrew from the facility.

At least two people have lost their lives and over a dozen others wounded in protests over economic conditions in southern Iraq.