U.S. military officials fear a continued string of bombings and attacks against civilian targets could stretch Iraqi forces beyond the point of effectiveness should some forces be redeployed away from the battlefields. Also, an unnamed Iraqi official disparaged the lack of coordination between the many security forces fighting the Islamic State militants. This further undermines the war effort.
The Yazidi minority group is campaigning for worldwide recognition of the crimes, including genocide, committed against them by the Islamic State militants.
Snipers are keeping residents of Falluja from escaping the city.
An Australian security contractor who died on Friday at the Australian Embassy in Baghdad was apparently shot to death.
Turkey says it killed 144 Kurdish guerillas in air strikes against suspected Kurdistan Workers Party (P.K.K.) targets in northern Iraq.
At least 86 were killed and 61 were wounded in recent violence:
Several gunmen stormed a cafe in Balad where Real Madrid fans were gathered. The gunmen killed 16 people and wounded 30 more. Some of the casualties occurred after police arrived and chased the gunmen into nearby farmland. Four gunmen were killed. At least four of the fatalities belonged to security personnel.
A suicide bomber killed four security personnel at a souk near Balad.
In Baghdad, a bombing killed one person and wounded nine more.
A bomb killed one soldier and wounded four more in Latifiya.
Gunmen in Bani Saad killed a civilian.
A woman was executed in Hawija.
Eleven security personnel were wounded in an attack near Ramadi. Tribal fighters killed nine militants.
Eighteen militants were killed in a failed attack on Nasr.
Strikes near Amiriyat al-Falluja left 13 militants dead.
Eight militants were killed and seven were wounded during a shelling campaign on Albu Rofa and Albu Shejil. Two more were killed at a bomb-making factory.
