At least 133 people were killed and 173 were wounded in Monday’s string of bombings and strikes against the Islamic State militants. In the capital, bombers attacked Shi’ite neighborhoods during the Eid al-Ghadeer observances.
Amnesty International accused the Iraqi government of supporting Shi’ite militiamen who are using the war against the Islamic State militants to commit their own war crimes. The militiamen were deployed after many in the Iraqi army abandoned their posts during the June invasion. Even back then, Sunnis feared that the militiamen would resume their own sectarian war against their neighbors. A.I. claims to have seen evidence of "deliberate execution style killings," among other crimes and wants Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to bring these militias under control.
While visiting Iraq, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond warned that Iraqi troops must do the "heavy work on the ground" because airstrikes alone will not work.
The United Nations believes that 180,000 have escaped fighting near Hit and are traveling towards Ramadi. Many of them were already refugees and are now fleeing twice.
In Baghdad, a suicide blast in the Kadhimiya district killed 22 civilians and wounded 41 more. A car bomb killed 16 more and wounded 30 others at a police checkpoint in Habibiya, next to Sadr City. In Sadr City itself, a bomb killed six people and wounded 24 at the Mredi market. Gunmen killed a civilian.
Thirteen bodies were discovered dumped at a farm in Yathrib.
In Mosul, militants executed two policemen. Four bodies bearing gunshot wounds were fished out of the Tigris River.
In Samarra, militants killed a volunteer fighter and wounded five more. Four policemen were killed and five volunteers were wounded in a second shooting. A bomb injured three people.
Two soldiers were killed and four were wounded near the Adhaim Dam, when two bombs exploded.
Gunmen killed one person and wounded another in Muqdadiya. Iraqi forces shelled a military parade, killing 22 militants and wounding forty more.
A dumped body was found in Husseiniya.
Nine bombs across Tikrit killed a number of people. Airstrikes killed tens of militants.
In Qadisiya, a motorcycle bomb wounded 15 people, including civilians.
A bomb planted in an orchard in Abu Garma wounded five people, all from the same family.
A military training camp near Hit was overrun this morning and fell to militants after clashes.
Three villages that provided escape routes from Mount Sinjar have fallen, trapping thousands of Yazidis.
Seven militants were killed in Falluja.
Airstrikes in Tal Afar left 13 militants dead.
Nine militants were killed in airstrikes north of Duluiya. Four were killed south of town.
In Saidiya, a launcher misfired and killed three militants.
Two militants were killed in Jurf al-Sakhar. Dozens more were killed in clashes.
