Violence in Syria has forced many Iraqi refugees to return home where attacks left at least six Iraqis dead and over 20 more wounded.
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said that U.S. forces have retained the right to conduct unilateral operations against Shi’ite militants. The U.S. believes the militants are backed by Iran, but the Iranian government has denied the accusation. Panetta also mistakenly told U.S. troops in Baghdad that they were in Iraq because of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Iran has also claimed the right to conduct operations in Iraq. An Iraqi border official says that Iranian troops are currently stationed just inside the border. Iran is after Kurdish rebels who use Iraqi Kurdistan as a base to conduct attacks against Iran.
A car bomb targeting police in Tuz Khormato wounded 12 people when it exploded.
The decapitated bodies of three men who had been kidnapped ten days ago in Rutba were discovered. One of the victims was a Sunni imam, while the other two were his brothers. They had also been shot and handcuffed.
A sticky bomb explosion in Baiji killed a police colonel and wounding two other officers.
Two policemen were wounded in Mosul when gunmen attacked their checkpoint. At another checkpoint, gunmen killed one soldier and wounded two others.
In Baghdad, rockets fell in the Green Zone; one fell on an MP’s house and wounded several guards, along with her son. A sticky bomb wounded a Sahwa member in Ghazaliya.
Near Kirkuk, Christians and Muslim leaders attended ceremonies at the first new church to open in Iraq since the 2003 invasion.
In Kut, an army officer was killed in a blast. Police found a rocket launcher and defused two bombs, including one planted inside a woman’s purse.
A bomb was defused in Falluja.
