At least seven Iraqis were killed and six more were wounded in a series of small attacks across the country. Meanwhile, President Obama claimed that all U.S. troops would leave Iraq by a Dec. 31 withdrawal deadline. That news came as Turkey said it would cooperate with Iran on eliminating the Kurdistan rebel threat.
Having failed to reach a troop extension agreement with the Iraqi government, U.S. President Barack Obama now says that all U.S. troops will leave Iraq on schedule at the end of the year. This withdrawal does not include the thousands of private contractors — a de facto private army — that the U.S. State Department will continue to have on hand.
Turkey continued its operations against the Kurdistan Workers Party (P.K.K.), both at home and in Iraq, while also pledging to coordinate activities with Iran.
In Mosul, gunmen killed a woman during a home invasion. Three policemen were wounded in a roadside bombing.
Two soldiers were killed and a third one was wounded when they came across an I.E.D. while on patrol near Jalawla.
Two bombs in Ramadi killed a civilian and wounded a policeman.
A gunman tried to storm a police station in Nasariya. When he was prevented, he pulled the pin on one of his grenades, killing himself and wounding a policeman.
A woman’s body was found in al-Talea, bearing gunshot wounds.
Gunmen killed a policeman at a fake checkpoint they set up near Amiriyat al-Falluja.
Explosives damaged a partially built mosque in Dujail.
Two houses were blown up in Qaim.
A billiards hall in Muqdadiya suffered a bomb blast.
