According to a senior Iraqi official, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi will be in Washington next week to ask for military equipment and a deferment of the payment for the weapons. The premier may also ask for more U.S. personnel to be sent to Iraq. The official indicated that Baghdad may turn towards Tehran if the request goes unfulfilled. This is Abadi’s first trip to the United States as Iraqi premier.
Ned Parker, who is Reuters Baghdad bureau chief, fled the country after receiving threats from supporters of a Shi’ite militia. The harassment campaign began shortly after reports of war crimes began surfacing in Tikrit.
Militants released a video of their destruction of the ancient ruins of Nimrud.
At least 35 were killed and 23 more were wounded across Iraq.
In Baghdad, a bomb at a Shabb marketplace killed four people and wounded 11 more. Another blast killed two people and wounded two more. Gunmen killed a father and son at their tile factory. A roadside bomb killed a civilian. A number of militants were also killed.
Three suicide bombers began an intense attack on the refinery at Baiji. Airstrikes killed 20 fighters, and the militants were eventually repelled.
Six people were wounded when mortars struck a residential complex in Amiriyat al-Falluja.
In Makhmour, Peshmerga forces killed three militants and wounded four more.
