The head of the heath department in Erbil, Saman Barzinji, said about 7,595 injured people, including security personnel, have been taken to overwhelmed hospitals in Erbil over the last two months. Erbil is about 50 miles (80 kilometers) east of Mosul. Barzinji is calling for assistance from Baghdad and the international community.
Due to the slow progress in eastern Mosul, Iraqi forces are considering supplementing troops on the eastern fronts with Shi’ite militiamen. The militiamen were to be kept out of the fighting in Mosul due to sectarian concerns; however, they forced their presence in the far western suburbs.
Human Rights Watch issued a warning against the Kurdistan Workers Party (P.K.K.), which the group says is using child soldiers in the fight against the Islamic State militants. Of particular note is the recruitment of Yazidi minors for the Shingal Resistance Units (Y.B.S.).
At least 118 were killed and 121 were wounded:
A triple suicide bombing at a market in Gogjiali, one Mosul’s first suburbs to be retaken, killed at least 30 people and wounded 60 more. Eight of the dead were policemen or other security personnel.
In Mosul, mortar fire killed four aid workers and at least four civilians. At least 37 civilians were wounded in this and another mortar attack yesterday.
In Baghdad, four people were wounded when a bomb exploded in the Ouriage neighborhood. A car bomb in Shuhada killed one person and wounded four more. A bomb wounded a woman in Abu Dsheer. Bombs in Baghdad al-Jadida wounded two people. Five people were wounded in a blast in Maysaloun Square. Four more were wounded when a bomb exploded in Zaafaraniyah.
Two farmers were killed in a blast in Zeham.
A bomb targeting a vehicle in Ramadi killed a soldier. It also wounded a driver and several other soldiers.
Militants used a six-year-old girl to carry out a suicide bombing that left no casualties in Nineveh province.
About 70 militants were killed in an airstrike near Tal Abta.
Security forces in Baiji killed two militants.
