Baghdad has asked the Kurdish government to allow 20,000 refugees from Anbar province to relocate there because they will not be allowed into the capital. The fear is that terrorists will be hidden among the displaced.
So far 470 bodies have been recovered from various graves in the Tikrit region. The victims are believed to be soldiers from Camp Speicher. They were killed after the Islamic State militants took over the area.
Militants damaged a World Heritage site in Sharqat. Qalah Sharqat is about 4,500 years old. The gates to the ancient ruins were blown up. It is unknown how much else was destroyed.
Shi’ite militias have changed the name of their operation to liberate Ramadi. It had been called "Labyek Ya Hussein" (“At your service Hussein”), but that was considered too sectarian for the Sunni province. The new name is “Labyek Ya Iraq” or “At Your Service Iraq”.
In recent violence, at least 227 were killed and 59 were wounded:
In Baghdad, a bomb at the Babil Hotel left six people dead and 14 wounded. Four people were killed and 13 were wounded in a blast at the former Sheraton Hotel. An engineer was shot dead.
Clashes to liberate al-Taash, near Ramadi, left 15 militiamen dead and eight wounded.
Jazira, Rumailat, and Said Gharib were liberated, but 10 security personnel were killed and 23 more were wounded. At least 13 militants were killed in the battles.
Three Kurds were executed in Mosul for assisting the Peshmerga.
A roadside bomb wounded a Peshmerga member near Kirkuk.
Ninety soldiers were rescued in the Thar Thar region.
In Samarra, security forces killed 60 militants in the Nafut Laiyn area. Twelve more were killed during an airstrike.
A tank division killed 36 militants in Dujail.
In Baghdad, 30 militants were killed.
Security forces claim to have Ramadi surrounded. Seventeen militants were killed in airstrikes.
Six militants were killed in Baiji.
Another six were killed near Habaniya Lake.
Security forces killed four militants in Garma.
In Husaybah al-Sharqiya, three militants were killed.
Peshmerga forces killed an artillery specialist in Makhmour.
