Security In Iraq, Aug 22-28, 2016

Violence took a slight dip in Iraq in the third week of August. Both incidents and casualties were slightly down from the week before. There were still a large number of executions by the Islamic State. On the government side, it was still clearing the Ramadi-Fallujah corridor in Anbar, and moving slowly in Ninewa in the march towards Mosul.

From August 22-28, 2016 there were 134 recorded incidents in Iraq leading to 267 deaths and 312 wounded. Kirkuk, Ninewa, and Baghdad were the most violence provinces during the week. Kirkuk had 68 deaths, Ninewa 70, and Baghdad 93.

In Anbar, the government was still clearing the Khalidiya Island area between Ramadi and Fallujah. The area was declared freed on July 31, but heavy fighting continued. Finally, on August 27, the Iraqi forces again said that it had liberated the area again. The Islamic State responded with several counter attacks there, but it was also active in the towns around Ramadi, and in western Anbar in Haditha and Rutba. Those attacks led to a reported 16 dead and 15 wounded, 27 of which were members of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF).

With the Islamic State on the retreat in most of the country, it continued to hit the capital. For several weeks, attacks in Baghdad had been going down, but the last two weeks they jumped back up to double digits almost every day. There were 78 incidents, 93 killed, and 242 injured during the week. There was a car bomb in Arab Jabour, along with 6 sticky bombs and 39 IEDs. The government launched operations in Tarmiya in the north and Arab Jabour in the south, both long time militant bases. Unfortunately, security in the capital is a mess with overlapping commands, intelligence agencies, and security forces preventing any serious cooperation.

Diyala, which saw a doubling of incidents since the start of the year was very quiet from August 22-28 with only 2 reported attacks.

On August 28, the town of Ain Tamur in Karbala was hit by a number of suicide bombers targeting a wedding. First, they shot at the crowd, and then threw grenades, before two were able to set off their devices. That left 18 dead and 28 wounded. The last time the province was struck was at the start of June when a car bomb hit Karbala city. Every few months the Islamic State attempts to infiltrate the governorate through neighboring Anbar.

Kirkuk has seen an explosion of fatalities in recent weeks, but not because of fighting with the insurgents, but rather due to executions. The government is threatening the Hawija district, the last part of the province that IS controls. In response, the group has been killing a large number of civilians to maintain control. During the week 41 people were executed with another 26 killed while trying to escape.

With the arrival of units from the Golden Division, the government was finally able to free Qayara in Ninewa. The operation to take the town was started on June 18. In just under a month the air base in the district was seized, and then the Iraqi forces seemed to drastically slow down their push. It took another month to finally get to Qayara itself. IS fought hard, but like recent battles once the perimeter defenses were breached the town quickly fell. The group also executed 35 people in the district, and hit a displaced camp in Makhmour with a suicide bomber. The bodies of ten women were discovered in a former IS prison as well.

Salahaddin has become of secondary importance to IS in 2016. There was a slight surge in attacks during the spring offensive, but since then they have gone back down to only around one incident per day. During the third week of August IS attacked the Makhoul Mountains, the Hamrin Mountains, Shirqat, Baiji and Tuz Kharmato, mostly with car bombs that were destroyed before hitting their targets. In total there were just 6 incidents with no reported casualties.

There were just two successful car bombs in Iraq from August 22-28. One was in Anbar and the other in Baghdad. They caused 5 deaths and 10 wounded. The Iraqi forces claimed to have destroyed another 48, 3 in Anbar, 5 in Salahaddin, and 40 in Ninewa. Since the end of the spring offensive there has been a large drop in car bombs each week.

Violence In Iraq 2016

Date	Incidents	Dead	Wounded
Jan 1-7	179	866	476
Jan 8-14	168	560	480
Jan 15-21	166	400	335
Jan 22-28	154	457	361
Jan 29-31	56	135	334
JAN	723	2,418	1,986
Feb 1-7	184	626	355
Feb 8-14	150	259	375
Feb 15-21	162	400	293
Feb 22-29	161	400	701
FEB	657	1,685	1,724
Mar 1-7	185	351	484
Mar 8-14	169	477	517
Mar 15-21	133	419	510
Mar 22-28	141	245	432
Mar 29-31	53	192	152
MAR	681	1,684	2,095
Apr 1-7	157	398	508
Apr 8-14	146	361	443
Apr 15-21	130	531	300
Apr 22-28	165	480	532
Apr 29-30	31	65	121
APR	629	1,835	1,904
May 1-7	164	386	422
May 8-14	147	407	687
May 15-21	127	387	617
May 22-28	150	315	445
May 29-31	85	142	313
MAY	673	1,637	2,484
Jun 1-7	177	592	1,639
Jun 8-14	136	345	472
Jun 15-21	154	416	523
Jun 22-28	123	329	410
Jun 29-30	40	429	3,405
JUN	630	2,111	6,449
Jul 1-7	120	589	635
Jul 8-14	129	242	316
Jul 15-21	123	168	272
Jul 22-28	115	234	366
Jul 29-31	43	95	119
JUL	530	1,328	1,708
Aug 1-7	109	342	255
Aug 8-14	121	176	245
Aug 15-21	155	388	392
Aug 22-28	134	269	312

Security By Province Aug 22-28, 2016

Province	Incidents
Anbar	14 Incidents 16 Killed: 3 Civilians, 13 ISF 15 Wounded: 1 Civilian, 14 ISF 6 Shootings 4 IEDs 1 Suicide Car Bomb 3 Suicide Bombers Killed 1 Suicide Car Bomb Destroyed 2 Car Bombs Destroyed
Babil	2 Incidents 2 Wounded: 2 Civilians 1 IED
Baghdad	78 Incidents 93 Killed: 1 Sahwa, 2 Hashd, 10 ISF, 80 Civilians 242 Wounded: 2 Sahwa, 2 Hashd, 10 ISF, 228 Civilians 21 Shootings 39 IEDs 6 Sticky Bombs 1 Car Bomb 1 Grenade 1 mortar 1 Suicide Bomber killed
Diyala	2 Incidents 2 Killed: 2 Sahwa 1 Shooting
Karbala	1 Incident 18 Killed: 18 Civilians 28 Wounded: 28 Civilians 1 Shooting 2 Suicide Bombers 1 Grenade
Kirkuk	12 Incidents 68 Killed: 1 Peshmerga, 67 Civilians 14 Wounded: 2 Peshmerga, 12 Civilians 5 Shootings 4 IEDs
Ninewa	19 Incidents 70 Killed: 1 Peshmerga, 69 Civilians 11 Wounded: 5 Civilians, 6 ISF 6 Shootings 20 IEDs 1 Suicide Bomber 2 Rockets 2 Mortars 10 Suicide Bombers Killed 40 Car Bombs Destroyed
Salahaddin	6 Incidents 2 Shootings 1 IED 5 Car Bombs Destroyed

Car Bombs In Iraq Aug 2016

Date	Car Bombs	Dead	Wounded
Aug 1	Shirqat, Salahaddin – 3 destroyed
Aug 2	Hadhar & Qayara, Ninewa – 15 destroyed
Aug 3	Tarmiya, Baghdad – 1 destroyed
Aug 4	North of Baquba, Diyala	1	5
Aug 5
Aug 6
Aug 7
Totals	1 – 19 Destroyed	1	5
Au 8
Aug 9
Aug 10	Arab Jabour, Baghdad Qayara Base x3, Ninewa	15	8
Aug 11	Samawa, Muthanna Haj Ali & Hadhar, Ninewa – 6 destroyed	2	5
Aug 12	Albu Assaf & Khalidiya Island, Anbar – 2 destroyed
Aug 13
Aug 14	Azwaip, Anbar – 1 destroyed Khazir, Ninewa – 1 destroyed
Totals	5 – 10 Destroyed	17	13
Aug 15
Aug 16	Ramadi Dist, Anbar Hit, Anbar – 2 destroyed Qaraqoush, Ninewa – 1 destroyed		4
Aug 17	Bab al-Sham, Baghdad Baquba, Diyala – 1 destroyed	2	5
Aug 18
Aug 19
Aug 20
Aug 21
Totals	2 – 4 Destroyed	2	9
Aug 22	Jadaa & Qayara, Ninewa – 7 destroyed Makhoul, Salahaddin – 2 destroyed
Aug 23	Qayara, Ninewa – 23 destroyed
Aug 24
Aug 25	Khalidiya Island, Anbar Arab Jabour, Baghdad Albu Bali & Haditha, Anbar – 3 destroyed	5	10
Aug 26	Shirqat, Salahaddin – 1 destroyed
Aug 27
Aug 28	Qayara, Ninewa – 10 destroyed Baiji & Zerga, Salahaddin – 2 destroyed
Totals	2 – 48 Destroyed	5	10

SOURCES

Abdul-Zahra, Qassim, "Iraqi Forces Push Islamic State out of Western Iraqi Town," Associated Press

Agence France Presse, "Iraq forces retake key town south of Mosul," 8/25/16

AIN, "Daesh Hummer car bomb destroyed west junction of Sharqat," 8/26/16

Buratha News, "Security forces destroyed Daesh explosives in security operation in southern Baghdad," 8/28/16

Iraq Oil Report, "Iraqi forces liberate key oil town near Mosul," 8/23/16

Iraqi News, "Iraqi army detonates 3 booby-trapped vehicles in Mosul," 8/22/16

- "ISIS attack thwarted near Baiji, two militants killed," 8/27/16

- "Khalidiya island fully liberated, informs Anbar Council," 7/31/16

Al Maalomah, "Killed 30 Daash and the destruction of two car bombs while trying to attack border outpost in west Anbar," 8/25/16

Al Mada, "'Biting off the ground' process of destroying Daesh cells in north Baghdad," 8/24/16

- "Joint Special Operations Command confirms freeing all of Khalidiya Island east Anbar," 8/27/16

- "Karbala Council confirms 46 killed and wounded in attack by four suicide bombers in Ain Tamur," 8/28/16

NINA, "11 Terrorists Killed, A Car Bomb Destroyed Northern Salahuddin," 8/27/16

- "Nineveh Operations: An Attack To Daesh Repelled, a Secret Women's Prison Found South of Mosul," 8/22/16

-"Nineveh operations: Blowing up (23) car bombs to Daesh and killing the military official in charge of Qayyarah Center," 8/23/16

- "Nineveh Police Destroy 10 Car Bombs, Coalition Aircraft Kill 20 Terrorists South of Mosul," 8/28/16

- "A Tanker Of Fuel, 2 Car Bombs to Daesh Destroyed Northern Salahuddin," 8/22/16

Alsumaria, "Wounding two civilians in a car bombing south Baghdad," 8/25/16

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, "Iraqi Forces Open Front Near Mosul After Taking Fallujah," 6/18/16

Xinhua, "3 killed in suicide attack on refugee camp in northern Iraq," 8/27/16

- "15 killed in suicide attack on wedding in Iraq's Karbala," 8/29/16

- "At least 5 killed in bombing attack in western Iraq," 8/25/16