Sinjar major, Mahma Khalil, says the city and surrounding area needs $10 billion for reconstruction purposes. While Baghdad has promised some financial help, Shi’ite militiamen and Kurdistan Workers’ Party (P.K.K.) members are causing enough instability to keep residents from returning to their homes. Other displaced people are afraid to return to their homes in Mosul, because they have relatives who were Islamic State members and fear they will be targets for abuse.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi rejected criticism that his declaration of victory over the Islamic State militants was premature. Chancellor Masrour Barzani of the Kurdistan Region Security Council is among the voices challenging Abadi’s early call and warns that the militants have not been completely eliminated.
Shi’ite militiamen launched a large-scale anti-ISIS operation near Samarra.
At least 16 people were killed, and seven more were wounded:
Six people froze to death attempting to cross between Kurdistan and Turkey. One of the survivors claimed to be from Fallujah. Children were among the dead.
In Baghdad, gunmen killed one Sunni Sahwa member and wounded three more. Two dumped bodies were found bearing stab wounds. A roadside bomb left three wounded in the Arab Jabour neighborhood.
A militant attack on Qara Shabak left three civilians dead.
Two children were killed when they came across a landmine in Kubeisa.
In Natajiya, a policeman was wounded in a previously reported clash. Two militants were killed.
