Iraq protesters defiant after 7 killed in overnight clash

Iraqi anti-government protesters yesterday vowed to push on with their wave off rallies as they buried seven fellow activists killed overnight in violence blamed on supporters of a powerful cleric. Loyalists of Shia Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr -- a militiaman-turned-politician with a cult-like following -- had raided a protest camp in Iraq’s shrine city of Najaf late Wednesday. Seven anti-government demonstrators were killed by bullets to the head or chest, medics in the city said, and dozens more were wounded. In the melee, tents where protesters had slept for weeks were burned down. Nearly 490 people have been killed and 30,000 wounded, most of them demonstrators, according to a count compiled by AFP from security and medical sources.