Backed by American airstrikes, Iraqi forces took back several villages outside Makhmour. Several more villages were liberated in the Qayara area. Col. Steve Warren, the U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, denied the operation as the launching of an assault on Mosul, but the Iraqi Army described it as such. Also, U.S. ground troops participated in the operation.
Kurdish forces prevented a group of Shi’ite militiamen from reaching Tuz Khormato. Tensions between Shi’ite and Kurdish forces have been running high for months.
At least 140 were killed and 34 were wounded:
In Mosul, militants executed five people. An airstrike left 10 militants dead.
In Baghdad, a blast targeting a police patrol killed one and wounded five more.
Five bodyguards were wounded in an attack on an Iraqi commander near Baghdadi.
In Qayara, security forces killed 15 militants at the post office. With the help of U.S. artillery fire, security forces crossed the Tigris River into Qayara from the direction of Makhmour. An airstrike killed 12 militants and wounded nine more
Airstrikes killed 35 militants at a rocket manufacturing facility in Hawija.
In Jeraishi, 33 militants were killed and 15 were wounded.
Seventeen militants were killed in Suhha.
Peshmerga forces in Ba’Shiqah and Noran killed a dozen militants and wounded many more.
