In a concerning development, a propaganda war has apparenlty developed on social media, between the Islamic State militants and Shi’ite militias. Horrifying images and videos of torture and painful executions are popping up online in a gruesome twist to the rivalry between the two groups. A taste for revenge among Shi’ite militiamen has already terrified innocent Sunni civilians who think they will be targeted.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken claimed that Coaltion airstrikes have killed at least 10,000 Islamic State militants in Iraq or Syria. Separately, the minister of foreign affairs for Qatar, Khaled al-Attiyah, warned that these airstrikes will be mostly ineffectual without reconciliation between Shi’ites and Sunnis.
A Syrian security source told Agence France-Presse that thousands of Iraqis are in Syria fighting the Islamic State militants there.
At least 331 were killed and 35 were wounded:
In Mosul, the morgue received 105 bodies belonging to civilians and security personnel who had been executed by the militants. It is unclear how recently or why they had been killed, but various methods of execution were used.
At least 70 people were killed, including civilians, during airstrikes in Hawija. Iraqi officials said that it was a Coalition effort. One of the strikes leveled a car bomb factory. The militants blew up a Sufi shrine in the area.
In Baghdad, four people were killed and 11 were wounded in a blast in Besmaya. Three people were killed by a bomb in Bayaa. Two more bombings left four dead and 17 wounded.
A suicide bomber in Falluja killed four policemen and wounded seven more.
About 84 militants were killed during an intense operation to liberate areas of western Samarra.
At Bashiqa, 28 militants were killed.
Sixteen militants were killed near the Muthanna Chemical Factory, north of Baghdad.
In Qayara, 12 militants were killed.
