Iraqi authorities allowed civilians to return to Fallujah on Saturday. A total of 17 families arrived, but three of them were turned away due to alleged ties to the Islamic State militants.
Iranian artillery fell on Sidakan. No injuries were reported, but about a hundred families were forced to flee the area.
The United Nations named Nadia Murad the U.N.O.D.C. Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking. The 23-year-old Yazidi woman was captured by the Islamic State militants in 2014 and subjected to sex slavery and trafficking.
Followers of Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr peacefully demonstrated for reforms in central Baghdad on Friday.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is scheduled to meet U.S. President Barack Obama next week at the United Nations.
Ankara is insisting that Turkish troops will have a role in the operation to liberate Mosul. Turkey currently has troops deployed in Bashiqa despite demands from Baghdad that these troops be removed. Turkey also conducts airstrikes without authorization from the Iraqi government.
Militants are reportedly shelling civilians in Shirqat in order to fine them as they try to escape.
At least 58 people were killed and 19 were wounded:
In Baghdad, a bomb killed two people and wounded seven more at an Amiriya produce market.
A bomb at a mosque in Kirkuk killed a child and wounded five others.
Strikes on Rashad and Riyadh left 15 militants dead and seven wounded.
Nine militants were killed when the car bomb they were working on in Rawa exploded.
In Tal Afar, an airstrike left eight militants dead. More militants were killed in separate strikes.
Six militants were killed in an airstrike near the Ajil oil field.
Another six were killed in a strike on Albu Diab.
Six more were killed in a strike in Albu Ali Jassim.
Militants executed four of their own for involvement in an airstrike in Mtabijh that left several leaders dead.
Security forces killed a man hiding in a dark room in Fallujah.
In Rawa, strikes killed a number of militants.
Several militants were killed in a strike near the Haditha Dam.
An airstrike destroyed a Zab chemical weapons plant.
