Violence In Iraq Feb 15-21, 2017

Violence remained high in Iraq as the Mosul campaign continued. There were a total of 145 security incidents reported in the press. Ninewa obviously had the most with 75, followed by 42 in Baghdad, 7 in Diyala, 6 in Salahaddin, 5 in Anbar, 4 in Kirkuk, 3 in Basra, 2 in Kurdistan, and 1 in an unknown location.

Those led to 381 dead and 505 wounded. Ninewa suffered 195 killed, Baghdad had 111, Kurdistan 42, Kirkuk 11, Salahaddin 9, Anbar and Diyala 5 each, 2 in an unknown location, and 1in Basra.

Anbar only had 5 incidents during the week. That consisted of two insurgent attacks, an IED, and a shooting of a family attempting to flee Islamic State controlled territory in the western section of the province. The biggest however was the kidnapping of 17 truck drivers outside Ramadi, which has caused some controversy. That’s because no one knows who committed the act and thus everyone has been blamed from IS to tribal fighters to the Hashd. The low level of violence left 5 dead and 6 wounded.

The insurgents have been picking up their activities in Baghdad. That was seen by their continued car bomb campaign in the capital province. There were a total of 3 such bombings along with a fourth that was discovered and dismantled. Added to that were 23 IEDs. Those incidents and more left 111 fatalities and 267 wounded.

There were not as many reported incidents in Basra. The week before there was 10, mostly IEDs in Basra city. The third week of February there was just 3, again all in Basra city including a shooting, a sound bomb, and an IED that left 1 dead. No explanation has been given for the recent increase, but some of it appears to be due to political feuds.

Diyala has seen sporadic attacks, but it is another area where IS has become more active. During the week there were 7 incidents leaving 5 dead and 5 wounded. More importantly IS has several suspected bases throughout the rural and mountainous regions of the province including the Hamin Mountains, Abu Saida and others. Diyala is also suspected of being the major source for car bombs used in Baghdad. Provincial officials are increasingly worried about IS rebuilding there and what that could mean for the future.

Kirkuk is one of the few province where IS still controls territory in the Hawija district. Diyala and Salahaddin officials are complaining more and more that IS cells are moving out of Hawija into their provinces. Kirkuk itself is rather secure with only sporadic violence. There were 4 incidents leading to 11 deaths and 2 injured. 8 of those killed were executed by IS in Hawija on charges that they collaborated with the security forces.

Several times a month Turkey announces air strikes upon Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) bases in northern Kurdistan. Rarely are casualties reported, but during the week Ankara claimed it killed 42 PKK members in 3 air raids.

With the renewed Mosul campaign Ninewa remained the major battlefield in the country. There were 75 incidents, 195 dead, and 224 injured from February 15-21. Many of those attacks were in liberated eastern Mosul as IS has tried its best to undermine security there. During the week there was one car bomb, 3 suicide bombers, and 8 more suicide bombers killed or arrested in the eastern half of the city. That went along with daily mortar, rocket and drone strikes. These constant attacks have driven several thousand people out of the city, and stopped others from returning.

Salahaddin is the final governorate where local officials are worried about the Islamic State’s return. There were just 6 incidents, but one of those was a suicide bomber being killed, another was two car bombs being destroyed, and two others were attacks by the insurgents. IS was never driven from the eastern sections of the province, and they have returned to liberated areas like Tikrit and others leading to the governor and others asking for Baghdad’s help.

Violence In Iraq 2017

Date	Incidents	Dead	Wounded
Jan 1-7	188	509	1,346
Jan 8-14	168	363	1,044
Jan 15-21	137	583	1,264
Jan 22-28	145	289	310
Jan 29-31	74	127	338
JAN	712	1,871	4,302
Feb 1-7	123	388	176
Feb 8-14	164	433	391
Feb 15-21	145	381	505

Province	Violence
Anbar	5 Incidents 5 Killed: 1 ISF, 4 Civilians 6 Wounded: 2 ISF, 4 Civilians 3 Shootings 1 IED
Baghdad	42 Incidents 111 Killed: 111 Civilians 267 Wounded: 10 ISF, 257 Civilians 9 Shootings 23 IEDs 1 Sticky Bomb 1 Suicide Car Bomb 2 Car Bombs 2 Mortars 3 Suicide Bombers Killed/Arrested 1 Car Bomb Dismantled
Basra	3 Incidents 1 Killed: 1 Civilian 1 Shooting 1 IED 1 Sound Bomb
Diyala	7 Incidents 5 Killed: 1 Hashd, 4 Civilians 5 Wounded: 1 Civilian, 4 Hashd 3 Shootings 3 IEDs
Kirkuk	4 Incidents 11 Killed: 1 Peshmerga, 10 Civilians 2 Wounded: 1 Civilian, 1 Peshmerga 2 Shootings 1 IED
KRG	2 Incidents 42 Killed: 42 PKK 3 Turkish Air Strikes
Ninewa	75 Incidents 195 Killed: 10 ISF, 26 Hashd, 159 Civilians 224 Wounded: 16 Hashd, 20 ISF, 188 Civilians 13 Shootings 5 IEDs 5 Suicide Bombers 1 Suicide Car Bomb 4 Car Bombs 2 Mortars 7 Rockets 16 Drone Strikes 44 Suicide Bombers Arrested/Killed 3 Suicide Car Bombs Destroyed 47 Car Bombs Destroyed/Disabled
Salahaddin	6 Incidents 9 Killed: 9 Hashd 1 Wounded: 1 Civilian 4 Shootings 1 Suicide Bomber Killed 2 Car Bombs Destroyed
Unknown	1 Incident 2 Killed: 2 ISF

SOURCES

Abdul-Zahra, Qassim, "Official: IS kills 8 Iraqi militia near Tikrit," Associated Press, 2/17/17

Bas News, "18 Killed in Baghdad Blast," 2/15/17

Buratha News, "Unidentified set off sound bomb in front of a residential house in central Basra," 2/19/17

Janssen, Bram, "UN Temporarily Pausing Aid to Eastern Mosul Due to Security," Associated Press, 2/15/17

Mostafa, Mohamed, "Army says foiled IS attack in western Anbar, killed 7 militants," Iraqi News, 2/20/17

- "UPDATED: Islamic State execute 21 civilians in Mosul, Kirkuk over for helping police," Iraqi News, 2/15/17

Reuters, "Baghdad car bomb kills 51 as Islamic State escalates insurgency," 2/16/17

- "Iraq blast: Suicide car bomb kills at least 15 in Al Sadr; Shia suburb of Baghdad," 2/15/17

Sotaliraq, "Civilian killed by unknown assailants in central Basra," 2/18/17

- "Fatlawi called on the government to immediately free 17 truck drivers kidnapped in Anbar," 2/18/17

Al Sumaria, "Baghdad operations; Security forces seized a car bomb in Sadr City," 2/16/17

- "Daesh kills a woman and injures four civilians while trying to escape them," 2/21/17

- "Home targeted by an improvised explosive device in Basra, and police arrest a man accused of various crimes," 2/20/17

- "Killing one soldier and wounding two others in Daesh attack on checkpoint in Anbar," 2/20/17

- "Three children killed by a roadside bomb west of Ramadi," 2/19/17

TRT World, "Car bomb in Baghdad kills at least seven," 2/22/17