[4] The protests and ensuing violence were strongest in the heavily Shia neighborhoods of Baghdad, as well as southern majority Shiite cities such as Karbala, Nasiriyah, Kufa, Najaf, and Basra.

The Iraqi government denied involvement in the killing, and quickly tried and executed three alleged killers, although one of the suspects had apparently been in prison at the time of the attack on al-Sadr.

[9] On 3 March Ammar al-Hakim, the leader of SCIRI, announced that it had attacked several government buildings in Karbala as part of the revenge operations for the killing of al-Sadr.

[11] Some of the worst violence of the uprising took place on the evening of 17 March in Basra, when large armed groups of members of the Shiite opposition attacked several police stations and offices of the Iraqi Ba'ath party.

[12] Contemporary press reports indicated that the clashes between protesters and security forces were in some cases particularly heavy, involving both armoured units and artillery.

[6] The opposition groups were even able to seize and occupy several of the police stations and Ba'ath party offices, which they held until the morning of 18 March, at which point they withdrew.

[12] Eyewitnesses talking to Human Rights Watch claimed that in some Basra neighbourhoods the firefight continued for more than an hour, whilst in others gunfire was heard throughout the night.

[15] Following the 2003 Invasion of Iraq and the toppling of the Ba'athist government the suppression of the events of 1999 were investigated by the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal.