Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi visited Kirkuk — for the first time as Iraq’s premier — to discuss plans to liberate nearby areas around Hawija. Although the flood of evacuees from the area suggests that it needs to be liberated ahead of what is expected to be a very long assault on Mosul, special forces have already been deployed near Mosul.
At least 118 people were killed and 29 were wounded:
In Mosul, militants executed 58 people by drowning. Some or all were former militants, and they were accused of being part of a plot to fight Daesh. Family members were not permitted to take hold of the bodies, and the militants dumped them in a mass grave.
Militants executed eight resistance fighters in Rashidiya.
In Baghdad, a bomb in Sabaa al-Bour killed two people and wounded eight more. One person was killed and four were wounded by a blast in Arab Jabour. Two people were killed and six were wounded when a bomb exploded in Nahrawan. A sticky bomb killed a man in Ghazaliya.
Five men were executed in Riyadh and Batosh for helping evacuees. The men were part of the Obeidi tribe.
Two people were killed and 11 were wounded in Yusufiya, when a bomb exploded at a market.
Airstrikes left 25 militants dead in Telul al-Bag.
Twelve militants were killed in a strike on Kokjli.
Security forces killed a militant official and his companion in Hawi basin.
