Lowest Reported Attacks and Casualties In Iraq Sep 2015 Due To Eid Holiday

September had the lowest recorded number of attacks and casualties in Iraq of the year. The cause was the Eid holiday, which occurred at the end of the month. The government deployed extra forces to the streets that definitely reduced violence in major cities. The main reason for the drop however was the fact that many of Iraq’s papers went on holiday for almost a week and therefore there was a huge drop in reporting on the fighting.

In September there were 573 security incidents. That passed the previous low in 2015 of 578 in May. Baghdad was the most violent with 228 attacks, followed by 102 in Anbar, 90 in Salahaddin, 64 in Ninewa, 33 in Diyala, 28 in Kirkuk, 17 in Babil, 4 in Kurdistan, 3 in Basra, 2 in Karbala and 1 each in Qadisiyah ad Wasit.

Those attacks resulted in 1,291 killed and 1,647 wounded. The dead consisted of 27 Sahwa, 53 Hashd, 56 Peshmerga, 162 members of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), 169 fighters from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), and 824 civilians. The injured were made up of 1 Asayesh, 16 Sahwa, 59 Hashd, 167 Peshmerga, 176 ISF, and 1,228 civilians.

Ninewa was the deadliest province of the month with 319 killed. That was due to a huge number of people being executed by the Islamic State mostly in Mosul. 89 people were killed the first week of the month, 96 the next week, 45 the third week, 18 the fourth, and 34 the last two days of September for a total of 282 fatalities. Another 18 Peshmerga were killed and 14 wounded by IS attacks upon their positions in the north of the governorate.

Baghdad had 296 dead and 850 wounded. There were 7 car bombs there during the month, along with 6 more that were dismantled before they detonated. The main causes of casualties however were the 97 IEDs and 29 sticky bombs. Most of these were in the south with 65 incidents, 61 in the east, and 51 in the north. The west, 28, and center, 17, had the least violence during the month. IS has bases in the rural areas of the Baghdad governorate, and also funnels in men and explosives from Babil, Salahaddin and Diyala. Surprisingly, Anbar does not appear to be a major source of attacks into the capital, probably because IS is too busy conquering territory there.

Attacks In Baghdad Sep 2015

Center: 17 – 1 Car Bomb, 1 Grenade, 1 Attempted Kidnapping, 1 Shooting, 1 Suicide Bomber, 2 Kidnappings, 3 Car Bombs Dismantled, 3 Sticky Bombs, 4 IEDs

East: 54 – 1 Body Found, 1 Robbery, 2 Car Bombs, 2 Car Bombs Dismantled, 6 Kidnappings, 7 Sticky Bombs, 17 Shootings, 18 IEDs

Outer East: 7 – 1 Kidnapping, 1 Sticky Bomb, 2 Shootings, 3 IEDs

North: 37 – 1 Car Bomb, 1 Shooting/Robbery,1 Rockets, 1 Stabbing, 1 Body Found, 2 Robberies, 4 Shootings, 5 Kidnappings, 8 Sticky Bombs, 13 IEDs

Outer North: 14 – 1 Sticky Bomb, 2 Kidnappings, 2 Shootings, 9 IEDs

South: 40 –1 Stabbing, 1 Grenade, 1 Beheading, 1 Attempted Kidnapping, 2 Car Bombs, 3 Kidnappings, 3 Sticky Bombs, 8 Shootings, 19 IEDs

Outer South: 25 – 1 Grenade, 2 Sticky Bombs, 5 Shootings, 17 IEDs

West: 20 – 1 Car Bombs, 1 Suicide Car Bomb Destroyed, 1 Rockets, 1 Shooting/Robbery, 2 Shootings, 2 Suicide Bombers, 3 Sticky Bombs, 9 IEDs

Outer West: 8 – 1 Rocket, 3 Shootings, 4 IEDs

Unknown: 3 – 1 IED, 2 Shootings

There were a reported 182 deaths and 224 injured in Anbar. Those numbers are only a fraction of the losses there. Since the government offensive began there reports of ISF shelling of Fallujah has been suppressed along with most of the losses amongst the joint forces. The real numbers may never be revealed.

Turkey continued with its air strikes into northern Kurdistan to punish the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Ankara claimed it killed 169 PKK fighters in four waves of bomb runs. There was no way to confirm those numbers.

Most of the attacks in Salahaddin centered around Baiji where the government continued its attempt to retake the Baiji district along with its refinery. IS launched a huge number of suicide bombers, 16, and car bombs, 35, during the month, most of which were in Baiji. Losses were sometimes reported there, but like in Anbar most were not. There was an air strike in the district that killed 68 civilians and wounded 58. The U.S. did not announce any activity in that area so it was probably an Iraqi army attack. In total, there were 167 deaths and 214 injures in Salahaddin.

The Kurds launched a new series of attacks to clear out part of Daquq district in southern Kirkuk last month. Irbil did report some of its casualties with 38 Peshmerga killed and 153 wounded. That accounted for the high overall number of dead 72 and wounded 165 in Kirkuk, which usually only sees sporadic violence.

Diyala continued to experience a low level of violence. Most weeks there are a number of shootings and small bombings mostly in the western and central part of the province. There were also three car bombings, and one that went off while police were trying to disarm it. All together those led to 67 dead and 86 wounded for the month.

Irbil confirmed that the authorities are suppressing most of their losses. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) issued a press release that 1,300 Peshmerga were killed and 5,000 wounded in fighting against the insurgents since August 2014. Those were obviously just rough numbers and not the actual totals. Compared to what was already reported in the press the KRG admitted that it had not mentioned 314 deaths and 3,003 wounded in the last 13 months.

Finally, the Islamic State’s latest car bomb campaign continued into September. There were a total of 155 vehicle borne improvised explosive devices (VBIEDs) launched during the month. That was below August’s whopping 324 VBIEDs. The vast majority, 131, were destroyed before reaching their targets because most were targeting the security forces or Hashd and taken out by air strikes, anti-tank missiles or some other counter measure. Anbar had the most car bombs with 95, followed by 35 in Salahaddin, 13 in Baghdad, 7 in Diyala, 4 in Kirkuk, and one in Karbala. The last was significant because it showed that IS was again interested in trying to bomb the south after a hiatus. Luckily these attempts have been discovered beforehand and the VBIEDs were dismantled.

Violence In Iraq By Week 2015

Date	Incidents	Dead	Wounded
Jan 1-7	189	466	464
Jan 8-14	172	733	518
Jan 15-21	189	403	528
Jan 22-28	195	492	899
Jan 29-31	91	306	568
JAN	836	2,400	2,977
Feb 1-7	155	408	688
Feb 8-14	177	443	566
Feb 15-21	169	592	383
Feb 22-28	171	391	705
FEB	672	1,834	2,342
Mar 1-7	176	373	595
Mar 8-14	137	398	656
Mar 15-21	146	1,304	505
Mar 22-28	174	273	406
Mar 29-31	72	205	219
MAR	705	2,553 + 4	2,381 + 150
Apr 1-7	127	218	422
Apr 8-14	137	676	542
Apr 15-21	172	729	717
Apr 22-28	163	497	483
Apr 29-30	50	162 + 7	182 + 299
APR	649	2,282	2,346
May 1-7	154	627	450
May 8-14	154	420	549
May 15-21	124	963	387
May 22-28	108	341 + 1,499	348
May 29-31	38	66	164 + 646
MAY	578	2,417 + 1,499	1,898 + 646
Jun 1-7	132	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	622	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	453 + 8	603
JUL	608	2,166	3,079 + 4,024
Aug 1-7	154	650 + 760	298
Aug 8-14	132	726	645
Aug 15-21	135	345	354
Aug 22-28	136	342	296
Aug 29-31	59	112 + 5	169
AUG	616	2,180 + 760	1,762
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

Provinces	SEP
Anbar	102 Incidents 182 Killed: 24 Sahwa, 35 Hashd, 61 ISF, 62 Civilians 224 Wounded: 10 Sahwa, 37 Hashd, 67 ISF, 110 Civilians 47 Shootings 3 IEDs 6 Suicide Bombers 11 Suicide Car Bombs 13 Mortars 1 Rocket 1 Artillery 23 Suicide Bombers Killed 1 Motorcycle Bomb Destroyed 9 Suicide Car Bombs Destroyed 75 Car Bombs Destroyed
Babil	17 Incidents 15 Killed: 15 Civilians 57 Wounded: 3 Hashd, 6 ISF, 48 Civilians 4 Shootings 10 IEDs 1 Sticky Bomb
Baghdad	228 Incidents 296 Killed: 2 Hashd, 3 Sahwa, 13 ISF, 278 Civilians 850 Wounded: 6 Sahwa, 31 ISF, 813 Civilians 48 Shootings 97 IEDs 29 Sticky Bombs 1 Suicide Bomber 7 Car Bombs 3 Grenades 2 Rockets 2 Suicide Bombers Killed 1 Suicide Car Bomb Destroyed 5 Car Bombs Destroyed
Basra	3 Incidents 1 Wounded: 1 ISF 2 IEDs 1 Sound Bomb
Diyala	33 Incidents 67 Killed: 3 Hashd, 11 ISF, 53 Civilians 86 Wounded: 1 Asayesh, 4 Hashd, 5 ISF, 76 Civilians 15 Shootings 8 IEDs 3 Sticky Bombs 3 Car Bombs 1 Mortar 2 Motorcycle Bombs Destroyed 2 Suicide Car Bombs Destroyed 2 Car Bombs Destroyed
Karbala	2 Incidents 2 Sound Bombs 1 Car Bomb Destroyed
Kirkuk	28 Incidents 72 Killed: 34 Civilians, 38 Peshmerga 165 Wounded: 4 Hashd, 8 Civilians, 153 Peshmerga 9 Shootings 4 IEDs 1 Mortar 1 Rocket 4 Car Bombs Destroyed
KRG	4 Incidents 169 Killed: 169 PKK 4 Turkish Air Strikes
Ninewa	64 Incidents 319 Killed: 18 Peshmerga, 47 ISF, 254 Civilians 50 Wounded: 14 Peshmerga, 36 Civilians 27 Shootings 26 IEDs 3 Rockets 3 Mortars 1 Air Strike
Qadisiyah	1 Incident
Salahaddin	90 Incidents 167 Killed: 13 Hashd, 30 ISF, 124 Civilians 214 Wounded: 11 Hashd, 66 ISF, 137 Civilians 48 Shootings 17 IEDs 2 Suicide Bombers 2 Suicide Car Bombs 1 Car Bomb 4 Mortars 14 Suicide Bombers Killed  15 Suicide Car Bombs Destroyed 1 Motorcycle Bomb Destroyed 17 Car Bombs Destroyed
Wasit	1 Incident 4 Killed: 4 Civilians 1 Shooting

Car Bombs In Iraq, September 2015

Date	Location	Dead	Wounded
Sep 1	Haditha x3, Anbar Khalis, Diyala Sadoun St, Baghdad – 1 destroyed	16	26
Sep 2	Garma & Tal al-Mushahid, Anbar – 3 destroyed
Sep 3	Shaab & Shuhada, Baghdad Garma, Anbar – 4 destroyed Siniya, Salahaddin – 1 destroyed	2	15
Sep 4	Haditha & Zoba, Anbar – 3 destroyed
Sep 5	Albu Aetha & Humaira Anbar– 5 destroyed
Sep 6	Bashir, Kirkuk – 2 destroyed
Sep 7	Albu Aetha, Anbar – 5 destroyed Karrada, Baghdad – 1 destroyed
Totals	6 – 25 Destroyed	18	41
Sep 8	East of Ramadi, Anbar – 2 destroyed
Sep 9	Ain Assad, East Husaiba & Husaiba, Anbar – 3 destroyed
Sep 10	Albu Soda, Anbar Jawaanh, Anbar – 1 destroyed Siniya, Salahaddin – 1 destroyed	9	14
Sep 11	Jaraeshi, Anbar – 1 destroyed
Sep 12	Albu Jwari, Salahaddin Anbar Univ, East Husaiba – 7 destroyed Hajaj, Salahaddin – 4 destroyed	3	8
Sep 13	Albu Aziz, Anbar East Husaiba & Garma, Anbar – 4 destroyed Albu Jwari & Baiji, Salahaddin – 5 destroyed	3	5
Sep 14	Nusour Sq, Baghdad Khalis, Diyala Ain Al-Tamur, Karbala – 1 destroyed	7	19
Totals	5 – 29 Destroyed	16	46
Sep 15
Sep 16
Sep 17	Wathbah Sq, Baghdad West of Haditha, Anbar – 1 destroyed South of Tikrit, Salahaddin – 1 destroyed	11	57
Sep 18	5 Kilo, Anbar – 1 destroyed
Sep 19	Baiji Refinery x2, Salahaddin Saqlawiya, Anbar – 1 destroyed Baquba, Diyala – 1 destroyed	2	5
Sep 20
Sep 21	Amin & Shuhada, Baghdad	14	55
Totals	5 - 5 Destroyed	27	117
Sep 22	Husaiba, Anbar – 1 destroyed Arboretum & Meshtal, Baghdad – 2 destroyed Siniya & Tal Abu Jarad, Salahaddin – 10 destroyed
Sep 23	Khalis, Diyala Garma, Anbar – 2 destroyed Baladrooz, Diyala – 3 destroyed	4	18
Sep 24	Tal Albu Grad, Anbar – 2 destroyed
Sep 25	Garma & ?, Anbar – 32 destroyed Baiji, Salahaddin – 1 destroyed
Sep 26	Garma & Rashad, Anbar – 5 destroyed ?, Salahaddin – 1 destroyed
Sep 27	Rofa x2, Anbar	12
Sep 28	Garma, Anbar Sadound St, Baghdad West, Baghdad – 1 destroyed Samarra Island, Salahaddin – 5 destroyed	14	24
Totals	5 – 65 Destroyed	30	42
Sep 29	Sadoun St, Baghdad – 1 destroyed Baiji, Salahaddin – 2 destroyed
Sep 30	Outside Ramadi x3, Anbar Outside Ramadi, Anbar – 1 destroyed Daquq, Kirkuk – 2 destroyed Baiji, Salahaddin – 1 destroyed	13	13
Totals	3 – 7 Destroyed	13	13
Grand Total	24 – 131 Destroyed	104	259