Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is in Tehran garnering support for his claim to another term as premier while at least 10 Iraqis were killed and 22 more were wounded in new violence back home. Also, one U.S. soldier was killed in a non-combat event in southern Iraq.
The Pentagon is asking news outlets to ignore, as a matter of national security, an impending release of Iraq-related documents from Wikileaks. Wikileaks, meanwhile, is claiming it is the subject of some kind of financial attack.
With the question of ethnicity threatening another delay of Iraq’s first national census in decades, the head of the department planning the census said they would remove any questions pertaining to it. The focus on ethnicity is a sore point in oil-rich northern Iraq where Kurds are hoping to expand their political power into traditionally Kurdish areas that are under the authority of the central government.
In Baghdad, a bomb attack targeting a provincial councilman left him dead and eight others wounded in the Nahda district; Jassem Ali al-Sa’idi was a member of the State of Law party and oversaw public projects in the capital. One person was killed and another was wounded in a sticky bomb attack in Doura. A bomb attack in Kafa’at left one dead and one wounded. Shelling wounded two people in Karrada.
In Mosul, a suicide bomber killed an Iraqi soldier and wounded seven others, including civilians, during an attack on a U.S. convoy. Gunmen invaded a home and killed an elderly man. A woman was injured as soldiers were handling a found bomb. A soldier was killed in a shooting at a checkpoint.
Gunmen killed a civilian and wounded two others in Baquba.
A woman was shot to death in Tahwila.
A policeman was killed in Kanaan when gunmen opened fired on him.
A bomb factory was discovered in Suwayra.
In Turkey, more than 150 Kurds are being tried for alleged links to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which uses northern Iraq for its rebel bases. Among the defendants are local politicians. The trials come at a time when Ankara insists that it is working to expand rights for its Kurds. Turkey also recently extended its mandate to fight the PKK, even though the group is observing a self-imposed truce in hopes of bringing Turkey to peace talks.
