Prime Minister Maliki said an operation would be launched in Ninewa province. The Association of Muslim Scholars blamed the US for the Mosul blast that killed 36 Iraqis. A new police battalion will be formed in Ninewa. Coalition forces killed one al Qaeda operative and detained 19 during raids in central and northern Iraq. Iraqi security forces captured 12 al Qaeda fighters near Baqubah. The Hadithah SWAT detained four suspected members of an IED cell in Barwanah. Iraqi soldiers detained 35 members of the Ansar Ahmad al Yamani group west of Basra.
