Scores were reported killed during Anbar operations that are seen as precursors to a full assault on militants in Falluja. The numbers given are reported by Iraqi officials and cannot be independently confirmed. If the government figures are accurate, at least 210 people were killed and 120 were wounded. Well over half the dead were militants. Bombers also attacked a courthouse in Baghdad, but they were unable to penetrate the building.
In Anbar:
In Falluja, five militants were killed in a clash. Shelling killed eight people and wounded 10 more. Earlier, four people were killed and six were wounded during artillery fire. Just outside the city, 35 militants were killed.
As many as 70 militants were killed during operations in Amiriyat al-Falluja.
In Ramadi, gunmen killed two soldiers and wounded two policemen. Nine gunmen were killed north of the city.
A bomb in Hamdaniya left three soldiers dead and two wounded.
Five militants were killed in Numaniya.
In neighboring Babil province, a helicopter air strike left 15 militants dead and four wounded near Fadhiliya. The area is just across the provincial border from Amiriyat al-Falluja.
Five army officers were killed when their vehicle stopped at a fake checkpoint on a highway linking Falluja to Samarra.
Elsewhere:
In Baghdad, two suicide bombers and a car bomber struck in an area of Karrada that houses government buildings, leaving ten dead and 46 wounded. Two people were killed and seven more were wounded in a blast in Wahda. Four gunmen were killed in Jisr al-Roud.
A car bomb in Sadr City killed eight people and wounded 17 more.
In Yusufiya, gunmen stormed a Sahwa member’s home where they killed him, his wife, son, sister, and cousin.
In Mosul, two soldiers and three civilians were wounded in a pair of separate bombings. A car bomb wounded four soldiers. A bomb killed two soldiers and a civilian and also wounded two more civilians. A gunman was killed while trying to plant a bomb.
Gunmen killed a soldier and a civilian south of Mosul.
A Sahwa member and his driving companion were killed in a shooting in Zab.
A bomb in Qayara killed a policeman and wounded two more.
In Baiji, a bomb wounded three children. Gunmen killed a soldier and wounded another. A bomb at a refinery killed two soldiers and wounded another.
A clash near Samarra left six gunmen dead and five wounded.
