At least 107 people were killed today. Except for one, the dead were all militants. Another 14 were wounded.
Politics:
Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani warned that the number of refugees now in Kurdistan is exceeding the government’s ability to take care of them. He wants international help for the more than one million refugees in Kurdistan. About of quarter of them are from Syria.
The plea comes as many new refugees begin their exodus to Kurdistan. Chaldean patriarch Louis Sako said that Mosul is now, for the first time in history, empty of Christians. Militants are insisting that Christians pay a special tax or leave. And, many are worried about the consequences.
The United Nations came just short of accusing the Islamic State of war crimes in a report about Iraq. Among the violations reported were the executions of non-combatants, rape, forced recruitment of children, wanton destruction, extra-judicial killings of prisoners, and depriving civilians of basic needs.
The Interior Ministry said that the Islamic State kidnapped 510 Shi’ite prisoners from a prison in Mosul and killed all but 17 men, who were able to escape and reported the killings.
Meanwhile, the Islamic State is attempting to appear as a bona fide state in parts of Iraq and Syria.
Fighting:
A bomb outside Kurdish Asayesh headquarters in Kirkuk wounded an employee and his brother.
In Falluja, shelling wounded a mosque’s preacher.
Air strikes in Mosul killed 27 militants, including a finance manager, and wounded 10 more.
Security forces killed 23 militants in Jurf al-Sakhar.
In Abu Ghraib, security forces killed 19 militants. They are still conducting operations in the area.
Ten militants were killed when security forces liberated Albu Hadeed.
Air strikes in Muqdadiya left ten militants dead. Several nearby villages were liberated.
A clash in Albu Gleb left six militants dead.
Peshmerga in Sinjar killed two militants during a clash.
Tribal forces killed eight militants in Duluiya.
North of Baghdad, security forces killed a militant leader and wounded two aides.
Militants launched a destructive attack on Camp Speicher, but the number of casualties was not released.
A car bomb exploded in Hit, but no casualties were reported.
