Displaced East Mosul Residents Begin Returning; 136 Killed in Iraq

Hundreds of people left displacement camps on Wednesday to return to their homes now that the Islamic State militants were chased out of east Mosul. The United Nations says that over 180,000 people were displaced in the Mosul operations so far, and 22,000 have already returned home. The Kurdistan Regional Government hosted about 95,000 of the refugees. Officials say they are no plans to close the camps. All guests must return home voluntarily.

At least 136 were killed and two more were wounded:

And attack on Metabijh left two militiamen dead and two wounded.

A federal policeman was killed when a mortar fell on his location near the Alas oil fields.

In Mosul, strikes on in Rashidiya yesterday left 70 militants dead; the neighborhood was the last to be liberated on Mosul’s eastern half. A separate strike left 21 militants dead.

Airstrikes on al-Wez near Qaim left 20 militants dead.

In Rashid, nine militants were killed in an airstrike.

Eight militants were killed in a strike on Tal Afar, including their commander.

In Badush, militants killed five of their officials, including a judge, for abandoning east Mosul.

Author: Margaret Griffis

Margaret Griffis is a journalist from Miami Beach, Florida and has been covering Iraqi casualties for Antiwar.com since 2006.