Iraqi Minister Resigns over Protester Death

Iraq's Agriculture Minister Ezzedine al-Dawleh resigned on Friday over the killing of a protester by security forces, an Iraqi deputy premier told Agence France Presse.

"The minister of agriculture resigned today," Saleh al-Mutlak, member of the Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc said.

Dawleh, also a member of Iraqiya, was the second such minister from the bloc to have resigned this month, Mutlak said.

Earlier on Friday, security forces fired on anti-government protesters in the main northern city of Mosul, killing at least one and wounding others, activists said.

"Fire from police and the army in al-Ahrar Square resulted in the killing of a protester," spokesman for the demonstrators Ghazi al-Faisal said, identifying the dead man as Mahmoud Saleh Yassin.

Hamad Salman, the head of the coordinating committees for the protests in Nineveh province, of which Mosul is the capital, also reported deadly fire against the demonstrators.

A police officer told AFP that protesters began throwing stones at security forces after Sheikh Hussein al-Obaid al-Juburi, a supporter of the demonstrations, was arrested at the square on terrorism charges.

A policeman fired in the air in an effort to disperse them, and when they continued throwing stones, other police opened fire, the officer said.

Protesters have taken to the streets in Sunni-majority areas for more than two months, calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and decrying the alleged targeting of their minority community by the Shiite-led authorities.

Protesters also turned out in other areas of Iraq, including Fallujah and Ramadi, west of Baghdad, and Kirkuk province in the north.

Friday was not the first time security forces have fired on the protesters -- soldiers killed eight demonstrators near Fallujah on January 25.

Gunmen killed two soldiers and kidnapped three in Fallujah the following day.