BAGHDAD Iraq's embattled leaders on Sunday pledged wide reforms in a fresh effort to assuage anti-government protests that have paralyzed the country and left hundreds dead.

At least 319 protesters and security personnel have been killed in the demonstrations since they erupted in early October, the Iraqi parliament's human rights committee said, according to the official news agency INA, without giving a breakdown.

Street protests, mostly by young people, have roiled Iraq in two waves, mainly in the capital Baghdad and the oil-rich south.
Demonstrators have decried corruption, a lack of jobs and poor access to electricity and clean water.

The demonstrators have also demanded the resignation of the government, the dissolution of parliament and an overhaul of the country's political system, which has been in place since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

On Sunday, President Barham Salih, Prime Minister Adel Abdel-Mahdi and parliament head Mohammed al-Halbousi promised in a joint statement to combat corruption and work for an electoral reform.
They called on the country's political powers to accept "positive" changes.

"They (changes) are particularly related to having a government shake-up based on efficiency, and initiating a national dialogue to revise the ruling system and the constitution," they added in the statement following talks in Baghdad.

The chief of Iraq's Supreme Judiciary Council, Iraq's highest judicial authority, Faeq Zidan, attended too.

Iraqi governments have been formed along political and sectarian lines since the 2003 invasion which deposed dictator Saddam Hussein.

Critics say the system contributes to corruption and incompetence in state institutions.
The three leaders on Saturday called the ongoing protests "a legal reform movement" and vowed to bring to justice those involved in attacks on demonstrators.

Several rights groups have recently accused Iraqi security forces of using excessive force in quelling the protests.

Amnesty International has urged Iraqi authorities to rein in security forces, saying at least six protesters were killed Saturday in central Baghdad.

"There have now been at least 264 protester deaths across the country in little over a month. This is turning into nothing short of a bloodbath," Heba Morayef, the watchdog's Middle East and North Africa director, said in a statement released late Saturday.

"Baghdad and Basra (a southern province) have seen yet more bloody days of excessive force meted out against protesters. Iraqi authorities must immediately order an end to this relentless, unlawful use of lethal force," Morayef said.

The rights group, citing medics, said four of the protesters killed in central Baghdad on Saturday had been shot dead with live ammunition while two others died of injuries resulting from tear gas grenades striking their heads.

"This bloodbath must stop now, and those responsible for it must be brought to justice," Morayef added.

The protests are the country's largest since December 2017, when Iraq declared the liberation of all territory previously under the control of Islamic State militants.