At least 83 people were killed and 40 more were wounded in the latest violence.
A day after liberating Saidiya and Jalawla from militants, a new political battle is brewing. Peshmerga forces want Shi’ite militiamen from the Badr Brigades to hand Saidiya over to them. Both groups, along with the Iraq military forces, battled to free the two towns and surrounding areas. Handing over the town could mean it will eventually become part of an expanded Kurdistan, which would infuriate Baghdad. But, the Brigades are intimately tied to the Interior Ministry and the Baghdad government, so they could be ordered to remain. Saidiya and Jalawla are in a heavily Kurdish region of Iraq.
In Baghdad, a car bomb killed 12 people and wounded 32 more in the Shabb district. Also in Shabb, another bombing killed one person and wounded eight more. A dumped body was found.
Heavy clashes continue in Ramadi. Three tribal fighters were killed when they tried to escape the fighting by entering a booby-trapped home. Four militants were killed. Security forces killed at least 25 militants in central Ramadi.
In Mosul, militants destroyed a church and nunnery. Three women were executed for being spies.
Three policemen were executed in Rawa.
Peshmerga forces killed 18 militants in Bashiqa.
Twelve militants were killed in Muqdadiya.
A militant commander was killed in Sinjar.
In Samarra, airstrikes killed dozens of militants.
