Baiji & Refinery Retaken As Iraq Forces Push Into Northern Salahaddin

Iraq’s joint forces won a major victory during the third week of October 2015 retaking the town of Baiji, which had been contested for over a year. Not only that, but they continued to push north towards Shirqat district and into southern Kirkuk’s Hawija, which are both Islamic State strongholds. On the other hand, the Anbar offensive continued to churn through many of the same areas, while IS also picked up its attacks in Diyala.

There were 142 security incidents in Iraq reported in the press from October 15-21, 2015. Baghdad had the most attacks with 50, followed by 28 in Anbar, 23 in Salahaddin, 18 in Diyala, 9 each in Babil and Kirkuk, 4 in Ninewa, and 1 in Basra.

Those incidents led to 208 deaths and 279 injured. There were 2 Sahwa, 22 Hashd al-Shaabi, 22 members of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), and 162 civilians killed, and 1 Peshmerga, 4 Sahwa, 17 ISF, 40 Hashd, and 217 civilians wounded.

Salahaddin had the most deaths with 84. After that there were 48 fatalities in Baghdad, 24 in Kirkuk, 16 in Diyala, 15 in Ninewa, 12 in Anbar, and 9 in Babil. More people died during the week, but the government did not report them or they were not covered in the media. In Anbar for example, where there was major fighting everyday with several security operations simultaneously going on there were no casualties mentioned for five out of seven days of the week.

Violence In Iraq By Week 2015

Date	Incidents	Dead	Wounded
Jan 1-7	205	466	464
Jan 8-14	177	733	518
Jan 15-21	193	403	528
Jan 22-28	197	492	899
Jan 29-31	91	306	568
JAN	862	2,400	2,977
Feb 1-7	159	408	688
Feb 8-14	178	443	566
Feb 15-21	175	592	383
Feb 22-28	178	391	730
FEB	690	1,834	2,367
Mar 1-7	186	373	595
Mar 8-14	156	398	656
Mar 15-21	170	1,304	505
Mar 22-28	186	273	406
Mar 29-31	76	205	219
MAR	775	2,553 + 4	2,381 + 150
Apr 1-7	130	218	422
Apr 8-14	140	674	531
Apr 15-21	175	729	717
Apr 22-28	167	497	483
Apr 29-30	51	162 + 7	182 + 299
APR	662	2,287	2,335
May 1-7	159	627	450
May 8-14	161	420	549
May 15-21	127	963	387
May 22-28	114	341 + 1,499	348
May 29-31	38	66	164 + 646
MAY	599	2,417 + 1,499	1,898 + 646
Jun 1-7	133	431	476
Jun 8-14	126	522 + 405	394
Jun 15-21	141	365	373
Jun 22-28	162	306	474
Jun 29-30	61	122	189
JUN	623	1,804	2,012
Jul 1-7	161	435	719
Jul 8-14	140	384	570
Jul 15-21	109	359	597 + 4,024
Jul 22-28	145	527	590
Jul 29-31	53	193 + 260	203
JUL	608	2,166	3,079 + 4,024
Aug 1-7	154	650 + 760	298
Aug 8-14	133	756	640
Aug 15-21	135	345	354
Aug 22-28	136	342	296
Aug 29-31	59	112 + 5	169
AUG	617	2,205 + 760	1,757
Sep 1-7	139	285	352
Sep 8-14	144	368	394
Sep 15-21	123	323	488
Sep 22-28	128	190	258
Sep 29-30	39	106 + 19	147 + 8
SEP	573	1,291 + 314	1,647 + 3,003
Oct 1-7	105	291	398
Oct 8-14	145	254	388
Oct 15-21	142	208	279

Security by Province Oct 2015

Provinces	Oct 1-7	Oct 8-14
Anbar	12 Incidents 72 Killed: 2 ISF, 70 Civilians 3 Wounded: 3 ISF 4 Shootings 2 IEDs 1 Suicide Bomber Killed 1 Suicide Car Bomb Destroyed 10 Car Bombs Destroyed	19 Incidents 26 Killed: 1 Hashd, 3 ISF, 22 Civilians 28 Wounded: 3 Hashd, 12 Civilians, 13 ISF 5 Shootings 4 IEDs 2 Mortars 1 Artillery 16 Suicide Car Bombs Destroyed 10 Car Bombs Destroyed
Babil	7 Incidents 4 Killed: 1 ISF, 3 Civilians 26 Wounded: 4 ISF, 22 Civilians 5 IEDs	6 Incidents 7 Killed: 2 ISF, 5 Civilians 36 Wounded: 5 ISF, 31 Civilians 1 Shooting 4 IEDs 1 Car Bomb 1 Grenade
Baghdad	48 Incidents 94 Killed: 4 ISF, 90 Civilians 241 Wounded: 13 ISF, 228 Civilians 13 Shootings 24 IEDs 3 Sticky Bombs 24 IEDs 3 Sticky Bombs 2 Suicide Car Bombs 2 Car Bombs 1 Suicide Bomber Killed	58 Incidents 69 Killed: 1 ISF, 1 Hashd, 2 Sahwa, 65 Civilians 196 Wounded: 3 Hashd, 3 Sahwa, 5 ISF, 185 Civilians 16 Shootings 28 IEDs 8 Sticky Bombs 1 Grenade 1 Stabbing 1 Rockets
Basra	3 Incidents 11 Killed: 11 Civilians 30 Wounded: 30 Civilians 1 Shooting 1 Sound Bomb 1 Car Bomb	1 Incident 1 Sticky Bomb
Diyala	4 Incidents 40 Killed: 40 Civilians 75 Wounded: 75 Civilians 1 Shooting 1 Car Bomb 1 Car Bomb Destroyed	8 Incidents 38 Killed: 1 ISF, 1 Hashd, 36 Civilians 58 Wounded: 58 Civilians 2 IEDs 4 Mortars 1 Car Bomb Destroyed
Kirkuk	13 Incidents 10 Killed: 10 Civilians 16 Wounded: 2 Peshmerga, 14 Civilians 5 Shootings 4 IEDs 2 Rockets	4 Incidents 12 Killed: 2 ISF, 10 Civilians 1 Shooting 1 IED
KRG	-	2 Incidents 35 Killed: 35 PKK 2 Turkish Air Strikes
Maysan	-	1 Incident 1 Killed: 1 Civilian 1 Shooting
Ninewa	6 Incidents 49 Killed: 7 Peshmerga, 42 Civilians 3 Shootings	9 Incidents 39 Killed: 4 Peshmerga, 35 Civilians 1 Wounded: 1 Peshmerga 6 Shootings
Qadisiyah	-	1 Incident 1 Killed: 1 Civilian 1 Sticky Bomb
Salahaddin	12 Incidents 11 Killed: 1 ISF, 10 Civilians 7 Wounded: 1 Civilian, 6 ISF 7 Shootings 2 IEDs 1 Mortar	35 Incidents 26 Killed: 6 ISF, 8 Hashd, 12 Civilians 69 Wounded: 13 Hashd, 22 Civilians, 34 ISF 10 Shootings 11 IEDs 1 Suicide Bomber 5 Suicide Car Bombs 11 Suicide Car Bombs Destroyed 7 Car Bombs Destroyed

Provinces	Oct 15-21
Anbar	28 Incidents 12 Killed: 3 Civilians, 3 Hashd, 6 ISF 8 Wounded: 3 Hashd, 5 Civilians 5 Shootings 1 Mortar 1 Rockets 2 Car Bombs 14 Suicide Bombers Killed 7 Suicide Car Bombs Destroyed 23 Car Bombs Destroyed
Babil	9 Incidents 9 Killed: 3 ISF, 6 Civilians 35 Wounded: 14 ISF, 21 Civilians 1 Shooting 6 IEDs 2 Car Bombs 1 Car Bomb Destroyed
Baghdad	50 Incidents 48 Killed: 2 Sahwa, 46 Civilians 149 Wounded: 4 Sahwa, 145 Civilians 10 Shootings 29 IEDs 4 Sticky Bombs 1 Grenade 1 Mortar 1 Car Bomb Destroyed
Basra	1 Incident 1 IED
Diyala	18 Incidents 16 Killed: 1 ISF, 15 Civilians 21 Wounded: 21 Civilians 3 Shootings 6 IEDs 1 Sticky Bomb 5 Mortars
Kirkuk	9 Incidents 24 Killed: 1 ISF, 1 Hashd, 22 Civilians 1 Wounded: 1 Peshmerga 3 Shootings 2 IEDs 1 Mine
Ninewa	4 Incidents 15 Killed: 5 Civilians, 10 ISF 2 Shootings 11 IEDs
Salahaddin	23 Incidents 84 Killed: 1 ISF, 18 Hashd, 65 Civilians 65 Wounded: 3 ISF, 25 Civilians, 37 Hashd 6 Shootings 5 IEDs 1 Sticky Bomb 1 Mortar 4 Suicide Bombers Killed 3 Suicide Motorcycle Bombers Killed 1 Suicide Car Bomb Destroyed 10 Car Bombs Destroyed

In Anbar the government’s forces made some headway in northern and southern Ramadi, but were also stuck in others. During the week Albu Risha was finally cleared after eleven days of fighting. The Howaz neighborhood of Ramadi was reached on October 18, and the joint forces were said to be just 500 meters away from the Anbar Operations Command by October 21. The government was also able to free 350 people in the Thar Thar district who were besieged by insurgents. At the same time, in Ramadi the residential area of the Tamim neighborhood was cleared for the second time, and the ceramics factory for the third time. The Albu Aetha Bridge and Albu Jassim were freed for the second time as well. The push through Albu Faraj continued even thought it was declared cleared on October 6 and 14. The joint forces made another attempt to clear the Baghdadi area. It’s important because the Ain Assad Base is just to the west. Likewise, a new push was made on central Garma in eastern Anbar, which the government has tried to take since March. With all that fighting only 12 people were reported killed and 8 wounded, showing the effect of government censorship.

Background To Security Operations Oct 15-21, 2015 Since Start Of Anbar Offensive

Albu Aetha	Albu Atwan	Albu Dujail	Albu Faraj	Albu Jassim
Jul 20 Reached	Oct 19 Operation	Oct 19 Operation	Aug 20 Operation	Jul 14 Cleared
Jul 23 Reached			Sep 13 Operation	Aug 29 Operation
Jul 24 Albu Aetha-Ramadi road cleared			Oct 4 East cleared	Oct 7 Operation
Jul 26 Albu Aetha-Ramadi road cleared			Oct 5 Albu Faraj Bridge Attacked	Oct 21 Cleared
Jul 27 Albu Aetha Bridge cleared			Oct 6 Cleared
Aug 21 Cleared			Oct 8 Albu Faraj Road cleared
Sep 9 Albu Aetha-Jeraishi op			Oct 9 Road from Albu Faraj to Japanese Bridge cleared
Oct 6 Reached			Oct 14 Cleared
Oct 18 Albu Aetha Bridge cleared			Oct 18 Albu Faraj Bridge & Sit In Square cleared

Albu Risha	Baghdadi	Garma	Ramadi	Thar Thar
Oct 7 Mostly cleared	Jul 30 Operation	Jul 13 Sjar Daway cleared	Jul 22 Anbar Ops Command attacked	Sep 19 Cleared
Oct 18 Cleared	Aug 24 Operation	Jul 15 Kanatir, Rashad, Bukhnfar, Mashniya, Subaihat cleared	Jul 26 Tamim reached	Sep 26 Thar Thar Lake to Jeraishi cleared
	Sep 25 Operation	Jul 21 Niamiya, Hitaween, Zbaan, Sidan, Anaz Operation	Jul 27 Residential area of Tamim & Ceramics Factory cleared	Oct 9 Northeast operation
	Oct 1 Operation	Jul 22 Cleared	Jul 30 Tamim cleared	Oct 21 Operation freed 350 people
	Oct 15 Outskirts cleared	Aug 11 Garma Bridge cleared	Sep 18 Tamim operation
	Oct 16 East cleared	Aug 11 70% cleared	Oct 6 Anbar Ops Command attacked
	Oct 17 Majid cleared	Aug 29 Operation	Oct 8 Tamim operation
		Sep 26 Garma Dam operation	Oct 9 Ceramics Factory cleared
		Oct 18 Central Garma operation	Oct 10 2km from Anbar Ops Command
		Oct 19 35% of  Central Garma cleared	Oct 15 Residential area of Tamim cleared
			Oct 16 Ceramics Factory, Min of Trade Warehouse, Tamim cleared
			Oct 18 Palestine Bridge, Shamiya Palace cleared
			Oct 18 Howaz Operation
			Oct 21 500m from Anbar Ops Command

Violence remained at a low level in Babil with just 9 incidents there during the third week of October. At the same time, three of those attacks involved car bombs. On October 19 two went off in Yusifiya, and two days before one was dismantled. These types of incidents have increased in the province during the on going IS car bomb campaign. 

South Baghdad was the most violent region of the province during the week. There were 17 incidents there including mortar fire on an outer village and 10 IEDs. East Baghdad had 10 incidents, 6 of which were IEDs that were the work of the Islamic State. The north had 9 incidents including a car bomb being dismantled. The center and west had 6 incidents each, and two IEDs were dismantled in undisclosed locations in the governorate.

Violence In Baghdad Oct 15-21, 2015

Center: 6 – 1 Shooting/Robbery, 1 Sticky Bomb, 2 Kidnappings, 2 IEDs

East: 9 – 1 Shooting/Robbery, 3 Shootings, 5 IEDs

Outer East: 1 – 1 IED

North: 7 – 1 Car Bomb Dismantled, 1 Sticky Bomb, 1 Shooting, 4 IEDs

Outer North: 2 – 2 IEDs

South: 11 - 2 Kidnappings, 2 Shootings, 8 IEDs

Outer South: 6 – 1 Grenade, 1 Mortar, 2 Shootings, 2 IEDs

West: 6 – 1 Robbery, 2 Sticky Bombs, 3 IEDs

Unknown: 2 – 2 IEDs

Diyala witnessed the most violent week since the middle of May. There were 18 attacks there from October 15-21. IS unleashed a barrage of mortars on Abu Saida and Mukhisa for five out of seven days. The former is an IS base and the latter is nearby. It was one of the rare weeks where no car bombs went off in the province, but there were six IEDs including one in a market in Baquba that killed 5 and wounded 11 on October 19.

The Islamic State executed 15 people in Ninewa from October 15-21. That included two lawyers and three women in Mosul and 10 police in Hamam al-Aleel. The group also blew up the Agriculture College in that latter town and destroyed 10 Shabak homes in Kokjila.

The major story of the week was the retaking of Baiji in Salahaddin. The town had been bitterly fought over since June 2015, and a massive operation by Hashd, ISF and Sunni tribes finally swept through the area in just a matter of days. Baiji itself was finally cleared on October 20. That was on top of the refinery finally being cleared days before. Not satisfied with that, the joint forces continued to push north into the Makhoul and Hamrin Mountains and Fatah in northern Salahaddin. Another force went east and cleared a few towns in Hawija, which is in southern Kirkuk. This was the biggest victory since Tikrit was taken in March. The Hashd seemed to have learned from that operation as they employed several thousand local tribal fighters to hold areas that were cleared perhaps hoping to avoid the looting and property destruction that followed the taking of Tikrit.

There have been car bombs 17 out of the first 21 days of October. There were thirteen straight days of vehicle bone improvised explosive (VBIEDs) from October 9 to 21. During the third week of the month Anbar and Salahaddin were again the main targets as IS attempted to use car bombs against the government offensives. There were 31 VBIEDs in Anbar. Two were being disarmed by the ISF when they exploded, while the other 29 were blown up before reaching their targets. In Salahaddin 11 were destroyed all in the Baiji district. One was dismantled in Baghdad, and then there were three more in Babil with one being discovered before its detonation.

Car Bombs In Iraq, October 2015

Date	Location	Dead	Wounded
Oct 1
Oct 2
Oct 3	Hurriya & Kadhimiya x2, Baghdad Ramadi & Rashad, Anbar – 7 destroyed	29	74
Oct 4	Subhait, Anbar – 1 destroyed
Oct 5	Husseiniya, Baghdad Zubayr, Basra Khalis, Diyala Bawih, Diyala – 1 destroyed	63	124
Oct 6
Oct 7	Ramadi, Anbar – 3 destroyed
Totals	6 – 12 Destroyed	92	198
Oct 8
Oct 9	Garma, Anbar – 2 destroyed
Oct 10	Tarmiya, Salahaddin Husaiba, north of Ramadi & Thar Thar, Anbar – 15 destroyed	3	10
Oct 11	Albu Jilab, Anbar Univ, Ramadi, Anbar – 8 destroyed Baquba, Diyala – 1 destroyed
Oct 12	Mahmudiya, Babil Baiji x4, Salahaddin North of Ramadi, Anbar – 1 destroyed	3	30
Oct 13	Baiji & Siniya, Salahaddin – 8 destroyed
Oct 14	West of Baiji & Siniya, Salahaddin – 10 destroyed
Totals	6 – 45 Destroyed	6	40
Oct 15	Albu Aetha & Albu Faraj, Anbar – 7 destroyed Baiji & Siniya, Salahaddin – 2 destroyed
Oct 16	Baghdadi, Anbar – 3 destroyed
Oct 17	Baghdadi & Thar Thar, Anbar – 2 destroyed Jbala, Babil – 1 destroyed Sheikh Hamad, Baghdad – 1 destroyed Sukariat, Salahaddin – 3 destroyed
Oct 18	Albu Faraj, Albu Risha, Garma, Anbar – 4 destroyed Siniya, Salahaddin – 1 destroyed
Oct 19	Yusifiya x2, Babil Baghdadi & Hit, Anbar – 3 destroyed Siniya, Salahaddin – 3 destroyed	2	12
Oct 20	Albu Jalib, Amiriya, East Husaiba, Anbar – 6 destroyed Baiji, Salahaddin – 1 destroyed
Oct 21	Albu Gleb & Amiriya Fallujah, Anbar Albu Gleb, Amiriya Fallujah & ?, Anbar – 4 destroyed Baiji Refinery, Salahaddin – 1 destroyed	6
Totals	4 - 42 Destroyed	8	12

SOURCES

AIN, "ISF kill 52 terrorists in Anbar," 10/16/15

- "Security forces seized two car bombs and arrested three terrorists in Amiriyah Fallujah," 10/21/15

Alsumaria, "Dismantled two car bombs bearing Kuwait registration plants in Al-Baghdadi," 10/19/15

Habib, Mustafa, “Competition Is Good for Business: Did US-Russia tensions Help Bring Iraq Victory in Baiji and Anbar?” Niqash, 10/22/15

Al Mada, "Anbar crowd: the start of a military operation inside the center of Garma and the killing of dozens of Daash," 10/18/15

- "The joint forces approaching the Anbar Operations headquarters from north Ramadi," 10/21/15,

- "The joint forces liberated areas in Baiji, and Iraqi Aviation destroyed headquarters in Ramadi," 10/21/15

- "War media cell announce fully freeing Baiji and demanding that social networking sites reveal the "falsities of Daash,"" 10/20/15

Mamoun, Abdelhak, "Iraqi Anti-Terrorism announces the liberation of Albu Risha area north of Ramadi," Iraqi News, 10/18/15,

Al Masalah, "Broke the siege of 350 people trapped in Thar Thar," 10/22/15

- "Media declares victories by the joint forces," 10/18/15

- "Media declares war victories by joint forces," 10/15/15

New Sabah, "Security file," 10/20/15

NINA, "Babylon police dismantled a car bomb north of the province," 10/17/15

- "Daash blow up Agriculture college building south of Mosul," 10/20/15

- "Daash blow up ten "houses belonging to Shabak minority east of Mosul," 10/20/15

- "Daash executed two lawyers in Mosul Criminal Court," 10/16/15

- "Daash Executes 3 Women of (Khansa Jihadist Cell) In Central Mosul," 10/18/15

- "Daash Executes Ten Police officer In Mosul," 10/17/15

- "Federal Police Achieves All Its Goals In Baiji And Progressing To Cleanse Makhoul Mountains," 10/17/15

- "Federal Police Destroys Truck Bombs, Car Parking Weapons For Daash In Sinia and Hawija," 10/19/15

- "The Federal Police Kill Dozens Of Terrorists, Seize Their Vehicles In Baiji," 10/15/15

Al Rayy, "Air Force destroyed a truck bomb and killed a suicide bomber and many members of the Soldiers of the Caliphate in Hit," 10/19/15

- "Killing five civilians and wounding 11 in bombing of Baquba market," 10/19/15

- "Popular crowd forces blow up a car bomb in the desert of Thar Thar," 10/17/15

- "Popular crowd forces dismantle car bomb in central Baiji," 10/20/15

Sarhan, Amre, "Car bomb blast wounds 3 civilians south of Baghdad," Iraqi News, 10/19/15

- "Iraqi security forces repel suicide attack by ISIS north of Ramadi," Iraqi News, 10/19/15

- "Joint forces kill 5 ISIS militants, dismantle 20 explosives west of Anbar," Iraqi News, 10/18/15

Shafaq News, "Armored vehicle of ISIS seized in al-Seniya," 10/18/15

- "A Car bomb dismantled and its driver arrested in Baghdad," 10/17/15

- "Counter-terrorism repel two suicide attacks in "Albu Jeleb" in Ramadi," 10/20/15

- "Federal Police repel 4 suicide bomb attacks near a gas station north of Baiji refinery," 10/15/15

- "Iraqi forces regain food shops in the liberation of Ramadi," 10/18/15,

- "A number of ISIS elements killed and 19 bombings foiled in Anbar," 10/21/15

- "PMU announce liberating Baiji completely," 10/20/15,

- "Two suicide attacks repelled in "Albu Faraj" killing 10 ISIS elements and destroying a tank in al-Siniya," 10/15/15

Sotaliraq, "Killing and wounding 11 members of the security forces blown up in a car bomb south of Baghdad, Yusifiyah area," 10/19/15