Thousands of demonstrators gathered in Baghdad and Basra to protest the deployment of Turkish soldiers to northern Iraq. The protests were organized by Shi’ite militia groups. Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan added a new reason to his list of justifications for maintaining troops in Iraq. He says Iraqi forces are unable to maintain border security.
At least 56 were killed and 19 were wounded in violence:
As many as eight border guards were killed and 10 were wounded when a suicide bomber attacked their al-Zawya outpost west of Nukhaib, near the border with Saudi Arabia.
An Iraqi airstrike killed four people and wounded three more in Falluja.
Two people were killed and six were wounded in a blast at a Baghdad market.
In Ramadi, security forces killed 22 militants in the Aramil neighborhood.
Airstrikes killed 15 militants, including several leaders, near the Syrian border.
In Kubeisa, two militants were killed.
A suicide bomber was killed in Albu Jassim.
Security forces killed one militant in al-Baghdadi.
