Protests took place for the fourth time since Finance Minister Rafi al-Issawi’s bodyguards were arrested last week. In one protest, thousands blocked the main highway through Anbar province. Another protest erupted in neighboring Salah ad Din province. The Sunni demonstrators believe the arrests are part of the Shi’ite-dominated government’s campaign of marginalization against them.

The Kurdish Regional Government again ceased oil exports over lack of sufficient payments from the central government. Earlier this year the Kurds had stopped shipments but restarted them when Baghdad promised to pay 1 trillion Iraqi dinars in September. Baghdad admits to shorting the Kurds, but claims the Kurds have not been pumping sufficient quantities of oil..

In Mosul, gunmen killed a policeman. A soldier was shot dead. Three people were wounded in a blast.

A grenade attack in Falluja wounded a policeman and a civilian.

A kidnapping victim was freed in Tikrit.

Read more by Margaret Griffis

• Forty Killed Across Iraq; 13 Kidnapped in Anbar Province – May 18th, 2013
• Retaliation Against Sunnis Leave 90 Dead, 201 Wounded Across Iraq – May 17th, 2013
• Bombings Continue in Baghdad, Kirkuk; 40 Killed – May 16th, 2013
• Iraq Horror: 42 Killed, 141 Wounded – May 15th, 2013
• Baghdad Liquor Stores Targeted in Ongoing Attacks – May 14th, 2013