The Kurdish Blocs Coalition demanded to know why Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi was allowed to travel from Baghdad to Kurdistan even though an arrest warrant had already been issued. They claim to have proof of the allegation and even the name of the judiciary member who issued the warrant. In original news reports, the vice president had been briefly detained at the Baghdad airport, giving some credence to the new claim. They did not reveal any guesses as to why Baghdad would have wanted Hashemi to escape the warrant. Hashemi is accused, by his political rival Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, of having ties to terrorism.
At least 18 Iraqis were killed and 14 more were wounded.
In Baghdad, a bombing on a minibus in the Karrada district left as many as three dead and eight wounded.
A roadside bomb killed three policemen while they patrolled Khan Bani Saad.
Two policemen were killed and two more were wounded when mortars struck Hammam al-Alil.
In Mosul, gunmen killed a real estate agent, the second agent this month. Two soldiers were injured in an I.E.D. explosion.
Gunmen killed a civilian has he drove in his car in Shirqat.
A man and his four-year-old daughter were injured in Kirkuk, when an I.E.D. exploded outside their home. A civilian was kidnapped.
The body of a young man was found floating in the Euphrates River in Qasim. The cause of death is being determined.
A policeman was killed during clashes in Qayara.
An explosion took place on a pipeline in the Idil area.
A bomb blew up in front of a judge’s home in Diwaniya, but no casualties were reported.
