U.S. President Barack Obama authorized the deployment of another 450 U.S. servicemembers to Iraq. The troops will transfer to al-Taqaddum military base near Habaniya.
Baghdad Municipal councilman Mohammed al-Rubai claims that almost 70 percent of homes belonging to Christians in the capital were illegally confiscated since the beginning of the Iraq War. Meanwhile, Nineveh Provincial councilmember Anwar Mata said that 120,000 Christians were displaced in Nineveh province after the Islamic State militants invaded.
At least 268 were killed and 52 were wounded in recent or recently revealed violence:
In Mosul, militants executed 130 people, mostly security personnel they had captured recently. Two roadside bombs killed a number of militants.
Amnesty International revealed the deaths of 21 Arab villagers at the hands of a Yazidi militia bent on revenge. Another 40 people were abducted. The events took place in January in the villages of Jiri and Sibaya, which are near Sinjar.
In Baghdad, a suicide bomber killed nine people, including six civilians, and wounded 22 others at a police checkpoint in the Shuala district.
Three civilians were killed and seven were wounded when a bomb exploded on a commercial street in Mahmoudiya.
A suicide bomber in Garma killed nine policemen and wounded 10 more. Eighteen militants were killed separately.
Gunmen killed three Sahwa members, including a commander, and wounded three civilians at a checkpoint in Buhriz.
A roadside bomb in Imam Weis killed a policeman.
Security forces killed 28 militants and wounded two more during operations in Dijla.
In Falluja, 22 militants were killed.
Fifteen militants were killed in Ramadi.
Seven militants were killed and eight more were wounded during an airstrike on a road between Rashad and Riyadh.
