The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) released a report detailing violence and abuse towards civilians during the nine-month-long effort to liberate Mosul and surrounding areas in 2016 and 2017. Among the topics covered in the report are abductions, human shields, mass killings, intimidation, recruiting of children, and the use of alleged chemical agents. At least 2,521 civilians died during the liberation. The U.N. also recommended Iraq seek alternative avenues for justice as the country’s court system is not capable of appropriately trying war crimes, and Iraqi law does not adequately guarantee due process.
More than 180,000 people, mostly Kurds, have been displaced by the Iraqi government’s retaliatory attacks after the Kurdistan region held a non-binding independence referendum in September. Shelling displaced another 700 Christians this week.
Negotiations between the Iraqi and Kurdish governments to end the violence continued on Thursday, as Kurdish authorities announced that an offer had been made for joint control of the Ibrahim Khalil border crossing with Turkey. This plan involves participation of a U.S.-led international force. Baghdad is also demanding that that Kurdistan funnel all foreign oil sales through the State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO)
At least 60 people were killed, and 12 were wounded:
Turkish troops and Kurdistan Workers Party (P.K.K.) guerrillas fought near the border between Turkey and Iraq after the guerrillas launched a cross-border attack from inside Iraqi territory. Six Turkish soldiers and two village guard militia members were killed; five guerrillas also died in the clash. Later, as many as 26 more guerrillas were killed in airstrikes as they attempted to cross back into Iraq. The P.K.K. has maintained bases in northern Iraq for years.
Gunmen killed a woman and her child in Mosul.
In Qaim, clashes left 2 soldiers dead and three wounded; thirteen militants were also killed. An airstrike killed a wali among other militants.
A bomb in Rashidiya left one dead and four wounded.
Three people were wounded in a blast in Abu Ghraib.
In Baghdad, a bomb wounded two civilians.
Two militant leaders who had fled Anbar battles were executed in Albu Kamal, Syria.
