Although the new Iraqi government continues to insist the last American soldier will leave at the end of this year, Independent M.P., Safiya al-Suheil, questioned Iraq’s commitment to the 2008 U.S.-Iraqi Status of Forces Agreement, as no security ministers have been selected. Meanwhile, light attacks continued apace, leaving at least 15 Iraqis dead and 27 more wounded.
In Baghdad, a blast near Yarmouk hospital left one dead and three wounded. Gunmen killed two people, including a civilian, and wounded two more in Doura. Also in Doura, a sticky bomb killed a driver. A police colonel was shot to death in Naaeiriya; four people were wounded in a nearby, perhaps related, attack. Mortar fire wounded three in Salhiya. In Mansour, three people were wounded by a blast..
The home of an Awakening Council member in Khan Dhari was bombed. Three family members were killed and two more were wounded. When police arrived, another bomb killed two of them and wounded four more.
A bombing in Iskandariya left two policemen dead and two more injured. Two others may have been wounded.
A police officer was killed and two policemen were wounded in a blast in Falluja.
In Mosul, the body of a kidnapped prison guard was found. Another man was shot to death. Families of detainees staged a protest demanding their release. About this time last year, a secret prison holding a large amount of Sunni detainees from Ninewa province was discovered, many of those detainees were subsequently released.
About 16,500 displaced families have returned to Diyala province, some from foreign countries.
A mass grave containing 812 bodies and dating from the 1980s was discovered in western Iraq.
