Electricity Minister Qassim al-Fahdawi was dismissed from his post over allegations of poor performance, and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered an investigation into the minister’s role in the deterioration of services that has led to mass protests this month. The dismissal will likely be seen as an attempt by Abadi to be re-elected to a second term as premier instead of a serious effort to address protesters’s issues. Protests continued on Sunday. Meanwhile, Islamic State militants blew up a power station near Hawija.
At least 23 were killed, and 18 were wounded in recent violence; 30 bodies were found in a mass grave :
The bodies of 30 security personnel were found in a mass grave in Hammam al-Alil.
An Iraqi intelligence officer shot his Kurdish neighbors after an argument over water services in Kirkuk. One person was killed and four were wounded.
One tribal fighter was killed and three were wounded as they tried to defuse a bomb in Hit.
An operation in the Hamrin Mountains left four soldiers wounded and nine militants dead.
In Khanaqin, a bomb wounded four security members.
An airstrike on Adhaim killed four militants.
Four militants were killed in Samarra.
In Wadi al-Naft, two militants were killed and three were wounded.
Security forces near Hawija killed two militants, one a Chechen.
