<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Iraq has placed its security forces on high after protests against high unemployment and a lack of basic services in the country's southern provinces spread to the capital, Baghdad. <br />''<br />''The nationwide directive was issued overnight by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who also serves as the country's commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Reports say, reinforcement soldiers have already been dispatched to Basra, where demonstrators gathered for the sixth consecutive day, to help protect the province's oil fields. </span></div>''<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><br />''</div>''<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Two demonstrators are reported to have been killed. The order came in an effort to stem the burgeoning protests, which on Friday spread from oil-rich Basra to the cities of Amara, Nasiriya and the Shia holy city of Najaf. The National Security Council also decided to cut internet access in the capital to prevent the unrest from spreading further, Anadolu Agency reported. </div>''<div class="yj6qo" style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"></div>''<div class="adL" style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"> </div>