During a televised speech, the Governor of Basra province, Asaad al-Eidani, called on Baghdad to allow Basra to become an autonomous federal region resembling Kurdistan. The Iraqi government has rejected previous demands.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has ordered talks between the Iraqi and Kurdish fighting forces to resume.
Fighting in Hawija has displaced 700 people.
A security report obtained by the Saudi Okaz newspaper suggests that 3,000 Islamic State militants are in the Nineveh Desert, while hundreds more remain elsewhere in Iraq.
At least 11 people were killed, and five more were wounded in recent violence:
A U.S. soldier died on January 8 in Anbar province from a “non-combat-related incident.”
Gunmen killed two young men in Kirkuk.
In Metabijh, a policeman was killed and two more were wounded in a roadside bombing. Two militants were killed during a military operation.
A bomb killed one person and wounded two others in a Taji industrial district. A policeman was wounded in a separate blast.
Security forces killed four militants, including a mufti, in Daquq.
