After returning from Iraq, U.S. General Martin Dempsey expressed concern that the Iraqi government is not on the path away from sectarianism and that all parties in Iraq may not have equal footing in the government after the Islamic State militants are defeated.
Iraq officials believe that the Islamic State militants have limited means to create chemical bombs.
The multiple assaults against the Islamic State militants continued, but no firm casualty figures are available yet.
At least 214 people were killed and seven were wounded.
In Ramadi, at least 50 soldiers were killed and others were wounded late Wednesday in what may have been a Coalition airstrike. After a series of bombings yesterday, the military asked for aerial support. Instead, a base was apparently bombed. U.S. sources, however, say the closest strike to the base was 21 miles away and suggested it was Iraqi military instead. The head of the Anbar Provincial Coucil, Sabah Karhout, offered an underground explosives cache as the source of the blast. He said militants had dug a tunnel and planted the explosives.
In Sinjar, one security member was killed and another was wounded in clashes. Nine militants were also killed.
A suicide bomber killed an officer and wounded another in Tikrit.
In Tel al-Warid, the body of an army officer who had been kidnapped in January was found.
In Baghdad, a body was discovered in Obeidi. Another body was found in Baladiyat.
Militants in Mosul cut off the hands of five young men for smoking.
A morgue in Nineva reported the delivery of 51 corpses belonging to militants killed in fighting either in Salah ad Din or Kirkuk provinces.
Peshmerga forces shelled Bashiqa, killing 33 militants.
In Hawija, 23 militants were killed.
Airstrikes left 20 militants dead in Tal al-Sa’ir.
Ten militants were killed in Saglavia.
In Muqdadiya, five militants were killed as they tried to booby-trap a house.
A suicide bomber was killed in an explosion in al-Zangura.
While retaking several villages near the border between Salah ad Din and Kirkuk provinces, security forces killed six militants.
Several more villages were recovered near the border between Kirkuk and Diyala provinces.
