Human Rights Watch has condemned "abuses" on the part of both the government forces and insurgents. In particular, the group criticized the indiscriminate shelling by the government in civilian areas. A hospital source in Falluja claimed that 25 civilian deaths occurred due to army shelling since hostilities began last week, while 190 people were injured. However, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who faces re-election in a few months, has resisted initiating any major operations in Anbar’s major cities.
In Ramadi, a suicide bomber killed four police commandos and wounded six more. A bomb near a tribal leader’s home killed one civilian and wounded two more. Heavy fighting was also reported.
Heavy fighting and air strikes took place between Falluja and Ramadi in the town of Albu Bali, where 20 gunmen were killed and 12 more were wounded.
Eight militants were killed in Khalidiya.
Three bombers were shot dead in Abu Ghraib.
In Baghdad, a suicide bomber, likely delivering a message to potential recruits, struck an army recruitment center in Allawi, where he killed 23 people and wounded 33 more.
A bomb in Tikrit killed a policeman and wounded four civilians. A roadside bomb on a road heading to Mosul exploded, killing three policemen and wounding five more. Four civilians were killed and six more were wounded in a bombing.
In Mosul, a bomb killed three soldiers, while wounding two more soldiers and two policemen; an insurgent was also killed. Two civilians were shot dead in separate locations. Gunmen killed a Shabak civilian. A bomb wounded four SWAT members.
A roadside bomb near Samarra killed four policemen.
Two students were killed and three more were wounded when gunmen shot at a school bus in Shirqat, where insurgents appear to be targeting school students.
In Qayara, gunmen killed a policeman and his mother.
Security forces killed the driver for an al-Qaeda leader in Tarmiya.
Security forces in Mushahda killed a bomber.
A sticky bomb wounded a civilian in Baquba.
