BAGHDAD: An argument between an Iraqi lawmaker and a political bloc spokesman escalated from angry words to gunfire at a television station in Baghdad on Tuesday.

The fracas between MP Kadhim al Sayadi of the State of Law bloc and Citizens Bloc spokesman Baligh Abu Gallal -- both members of Shia parties -- broke out at the Dijla TV station on Tuesday night.

“Sayadi began to attack us verbally and then called his guards and began helping them try to take us outside the channel,” Abu Gallal said in a statement.

When that failed, “they began firing their personal pistols directly (at me)”, he said.

Sayadi accused Abu Gallal of lying and denied direct involvement in the shooting, asserting that one of his guards opened fire, and that he was not carrying a weapon himself.

Sayadi said that “the dispute between us at the channel began when I requested that he stop targeting me in the media”, to which Abu Gallal said that he “does not respond on this low level”.

Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2015