Government troops entered southern Fallujah on Wednesday, for the first time since 2014. Only special forces troops participated in the fighting, but they were supported by Coalition airpower.
Residents of Bashir say they will not be able to go home for some time. At least 85 percent of the city’s residential structures are in ruins. Shi’ite militiamen and Kurdish Peshmerga liberated the town last month.
The General Director of the Peshmerga Ministry Jabar Yawar has admitted that the Peshmerga forces are not ready to take on fighting in Mosul. Although the plan is to use these troops only as support, the news comes on the heels of reports that Iraqi troops are not ready either.
An oil pipeline at the Havana oilfield near Kirkuk was blown up.
At least 71 were killed or found dead, and four more were wounded:
Three Shi’ite militiamen were killed and three were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near them in Hanbas.
Gunmen killed four policemen, including a regiment commander, in Tikrit.
In Bashir, a militiaman was killed while trying to dismantle a bomb.
Security forces killed 41 militants in Ramadi on Sunday.
Airstrikes on Mosul left 20 militants dead.
In Shuhada, an airstrike killed two militants and wounded another. Iraq forces took control of the neighborhood.
