Turkey continued shelling border areas in Iraqi Kurdistan. No casualties or damages were yet reported, but the artillery fire panicked the area’s residents. Separately, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan re-iterated the claim that Turkey does not need permission to cross the border to attack Kurdish rebels. Iraq has stated otherwise but does not have the ability to stop any incursions by neighboring states.
Parliament Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi‘s weeklong criticism of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki earned him a request for dismissal from Maliki’s State of Law party. The group said the speaker cannot perform his duties if he isn’t neutral. Meanwhile, An Iraqiya lawmaker said the party still wants to withdraw confidence from Maliki. Also, Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr insisted that the process itself would please God. The two main Kurdish parties also came out in support of withdrawing confidence but suggested that President Jalal Talabani, who is Kurdish, remain neutral.
At least two Iraqis were killed and eight more were wounded in light violence.
In Mosul, a clash left one insurgent dead and two policemen wounded. Gunmen killed a soldier in a separate location.
A blast at an exam center in Falluja wounded four policemen, including a captain.
Two policemen were wounded during a roadside blast in Garma.
A bomb wounded two civilians in Baquba.
Three hunters from Rutba were kidnapped while on a trip in the valley of Horan. One of this is a policeman.
Two car bombs were detonated by police in Samarra.
