ISIS-orchestrated attacks, violent protests spike in Iraq
Twin suicide car bombs tore through a packed parking lot and a bus station in the southern city of Samawah Sunday, killing dozens of people. It's just the latest in a series of attacks orchestrated by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) as Iraq spirals into a deepening political crisis, reports CBS News correspondent Charlie D'Agata.
Hundreds of protesters tore down blast walls surrounding Baghdad's heavily guarded Green Zone Saturday, storming the parliament building, ransacking offices and slapping around lawmakers. They mobbed the motorcades as politicians raced to get away.
The demonstrators were acting on the orders of Moqtada al-Sadr, the powerful Shiite cleric responsible for launching a bloody insurgency against U.S. forces.
Tension had been mounting for months, with public protests against what's seen as rampant corruption in the government run Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.
It all came just 48 hours after the unannounced visit of Vice President Joe Biden, not only to support the beleaguered prime minister, but to bolster the military fight against ISIS.
Breaching the Green Zone is unprecedented. The fortress is also home to the U.S. embassy, but the protesters said they if they did it once, they could do it again and vowed that they will, unless there are serious changes in government.