The attack on a KFC on the city’s Palestine Street is at least the third in just over a week and was reported just as a senior official in the Iran-backed Iraqi armed group Kataib Hezbollah released a statement calling on Iraqis to “boycott and expel” US brands.
The attack caused significant damage but no injuries to staff or customers, the sources said.
The store was opened by Americana Group, the Middle East and North Africa franchisee of fast-food restaurants KFC and Pizza Hut. Americana did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Iraqi security forces did not immediately comment on Monday night’s attacks.
The KFC brand, previously known as Kentucky Fried Chicken, is owned by US-based Yum! Brands.
Iraq has been trying to encourage foreign businesses to set up shop in the country amid a period of relative stability that has at times been shaken by security incidents, including months of tit-for-tat attacks between Iran-backed armed groups and US forces.
Western brands in many parts of the world have been facing boycotts and other protests during the Israel-Hamas war, reflecting public anger over Israel’s military operation that has killed more than 36,000 people in Gaza, according to health authorities there, and caused a humanitarian crisis.
The war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and abducting some 250 others, of whom some 120 remain in Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Iraqi authorities have executed eight people convicted of “terrorism” over links to the Daesh group, a security source in the country’s southern Dhi Qar province said Friday.
The source told AFP that eight Iraqis “convicted of terrorism and of being members of the Daesh group were executed by hanging” Thursday at Al-Hut prison in the city of Nasiriyah “under the supervision of a justice ministry team.”
A local medical source confirmed that the health department had received the bodies of eight executed people.
Under Iraqi law, terrorism and murder offenses are punishable by death, and execution decrees must be signed by the president.
The eight Iraqis were hanged “under Article 4 of the anti-terrorism law,” the security source said, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.
On May 6, Iraqi authorities executed by hanging 11 people convicted of “terrorism,” security and health sources told AFP. It was the second such group put to death since late April.
The execution on April 22 of 11 people sparked concern among rights groups, with Amnesty International condemning an “alarming lack of transparency.”
Al-Hut is a notorious prison in Nasiriyah whose Arabic name means “the whale,” because Iraqis believe that those jailed there never walk out alive.
Iraqi courts have handed down hundreds of death and life sentences in recent years for people convicted of membership in a “terrorist group,” an offense that carries the death penalty regardless of whether the defendant had been an active fighter.
The source told AFP that eight Iraqis “convicted of terrorism and of being members of the Daesh group were executed by hanging” Thursday at Al-Hut prison in the city of Nasiriyah “under the supervision of a justice ministry team.”
A local medical source confirmed that the health department had received the bodies of eight executed people.
Under Iraqi law, terrorism and murder offenses are punishable by death, and execution decrees must be signed by the president.
The eight Iraqis were hanged “under Article 4 of the anti-terrorism law,” the security source said, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.
On May 6, Iraqi authorities executed by hanging 11 people convicted of “terrorism,” security and health sources told AFP. It was the second such group put to death since late April.
The execution on April 22 of 11 people sparked concern among rights groups, with Amnesty International condemning an “alarming lack of transparency.”
Al-Hut is a notorious prison in Nasiriyah whose Arabic name means “the whale,” because Iraqis believe that those jailed there never walk out alive.
Iraqi courts have handed down hundreds of death and life sentences in recent years for people convicted of membership in a “terrorist group,” an offense that carries the death penalty regardless of whether the defendant had been an active fighter.
