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Iraq increases Green Zone security after second breach

Associated Press
Published | Updated
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    File- This July 13, 2015, file photo shows Iraqi security forces backed by Shiite and Sunni pro-government fighters preparing to attack Islamic State group positions in Fallujah, 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Baghdad, Iraq. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the beginning of military operations to retake the Islamic State-held held city of Fallujah, west of Baghdad in a televised address Sunday, May 22, 2016. Iraqi forces are "approaching a moment of great victory" against the Islamic State group, al-Abadi said surrounded by top military commanders from the ministry of defense and the country's elite counter terrorism forces. Fallujah has been under the control of IS for more than two years. (AP Photo, File) (The Associated Press)

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    File-This Feb. 11, 2016, file photo shows Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi attending a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the chancellery in Berlin. The prime minister announced the beginning of military operations to retake the Islamic State-held held city of Fallujah, west of Baghdad in a televised address Sunday, May 22, 2016. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File) (The Associated Press)

BAGHDAD – Iraqi security forces have installed additional blast walls and layers of razor wire around the Green Zone after the compound that houses most Iraqi ministries and foreign embassies was breached.

Sunday's security precautions come two days after hundreds of protesters pushed past police and military guards and stormed the prime minister's office and the Parliament building.

Many protesters were supporters of powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who has led months of demonstrations and sit-ins calling for government reforms.

The White House says that Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi spoke by phone with U.S. President Barack Obama and "agreed on the critical importance of improving the security" of Baghdad and the Green Zone.

Iraq's political crisis has left the government deadlocked as security forces struggle to fight Islamic State group.