BAGHDAD – Gunshots wounded at least two people Sunday at demonstrations in western Iraq when bodyguards and security forces protecting a senior Sunni politician opened fire to disperse protesters, a local official said, marking the first casualties in more than a week of rallies.

Some of the demonstrators were demanding that the politician, Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq, quit the Shiite-dominated government. Video of the chaotic scene showed hundreds of angry protesters chasing the official's entourage, pelting them with rocks and bottles as repeated automatic gunfire rang out.

Al-Mutlaq's office described the incident as an assassination attempt by "rogue elements" within the crowd of protesters. In a statement, it said an unspecified number of his bodyguards were also injured in the melee, and some of his convoy's vehicles were damaged.