A day after the Pentagon said that Iran had launched airstrikes on Islamic State militants in Iraq, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, without confirming the airstrikes, welcomed the new development. Despite the positive reaction, Iranian officials deny the strikes, and the White House continues to resist allowing the Iranians to join the coalition. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi was in Brussels asking the world community for more military and reconstruction help.
In Baghdad, mortars left nine dead and five wounded in the Arab Jabour neighborhood. A body was found in Mashtal. A bomb in Doura wounded three people.
A civilian was gunned down in Abu Ghraib.
Militants whipped a young man in Zab, for insulting ISIS/DAASH leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
In Balad, airstrikes killed nine militants and wounded 13 more. Militants poured oil into the city’s water supply, but officials shut the water system off.
Airstrikes in Aziziya, Hawija, Kowaz and Rashad left 35 militants dead and 45 wounded. A roadside bomb in Hawija killed three militants.
In Shirqat, 45 militants were killed in airstrikes.
In Mosul, six militants were killed in an airstrike that targeted their ambulance. Security forces at the Mosul Dam killed a number of militants who attacked.
Security forces killed a militant in Albu Tema.
