The Iraqi government asked the U.S. military to conduct aerial surveillance over Tikrit. Until this development, the Iraqi military and militias had rejected any U.S. involvement in the Tikrit operation, preferring Iranian help. However, since the operation stalled about ten days ago, some officials have admitted that Coalition strikes are needed to rid the city of Islamic State militants. That request could come any day, according to an anonymous diplomat from one of the Coalition countries.
MP Kawa Mohammed asked Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to explain why Kurdish Peshmerga members are not receiving their salaries from Baghdad, while other forces still do. The reduction in pay seems particularly unjust considering that Baghdad continues to pay billions in Iraqi dinars to employees in Islamic State territory, even though the money likely ends up in militant hands.
At least 105 people were killed, and 94 more were wounded.
In Falluja, clashes left eight security personnel dead and 12 wounded; seven militants were killed in those same clashes and another 13 were wounded. Separate battles left 18 militants dead and 12 more wounded. Mortars killed four civilians and wounded seven more.
Five soldiers were killed and nine were wounded in an attack on Amiriyat al-Falluja. Six militants were killed and seven more were wounded.
A mortar attack on al-Baghdadi left eight civilians dead and 10 wounded.
In Mosul, militants stoned a couple to death after accusing them of adultery. Three young men were beheaded in a separate execution.
Eleven bodies were removed from a mass grave in Tel Thahab.
In Baghdad, a blast killed one person and wounded seven more.
Two civilians were gunned down in Baquba.
In Khan Bani Saad, gunmen killed a sheikh and his driver.
Two security forces were killed in a booby-trapped house in Tikrit.
Gunmen killed a teacher in Muqdadiya.
A suicide bomber in Tarmiya left an unreported number of casualties.
A military base near Falluja was taken by the militants. Seven of them were killed, and 11 were wounded.
Security forces killed seven gunmen in Ramadi.
In al-Mazra’a, seven militants were killed.
Three militants were killed and six more were wounded in Sinjar.
Airstrikes in western Anbar killed dozens of militants.
