4,290 Dead And Wounded In Iraq In February 2017

With the Mosul campaign back underway casualties remained very high in Iraq. There were a total of 1,832 deaths and 2,458 wounded recorded during the month based upon daily research into over 40 media outlets, mostly Iraqi. An American General added that 500 members of the Iraqi forces (ISF) were killed and 5,000 wounded in the fight for east Mosul. When compared to previous reports that would add an additional 399 dead and 1,634 injured to the total. In January the figures were higher as the battle for east Mosul was still underway with 1,871 killed and 4,302 injured.

The effect of the battle for west Mosul was seen by the jump in casualties from the third to fourth week of February. From February 15-21 there were 381 fatalities and 505 wounded. That more than doubled the next week to 630 killed and 1,386 injured. 476 of the dead and 1,248 of the wounded, or 85% of the total for the last week of the month were in Ninewa province.

When broken down civilians remained the largest victim of the renewed violence. While 1 Sahwa, 1 Iranian Revolutionary Guard adviser to the Hashd, 4 Peshmerga, 71 Hashd-Shaabi, 86 from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), and 95 members of the ISF were killed in February, that paled in comparison to the 1,574 civilians that lost their lives. Another 1 Coalition Soldiers, 1 Sahwa, 2 U.S. Soldiers, 5 Peshmerga, 58 Hashd, 273 ISF, and 2,118 civilians were wounded.

Violence decline in Anbar, but there were still 63 deaths and 78 wounded there. Western Anbar is still under Islamic State control, and the group is rebuilding in the center of the province around Ramadi and Fallujah. That has led to a steady stream of bombings. During the month there were 3 car bombs along with 2 suicide bombers being killed, and 6 other car bombs destroyed.

Babil had 150 dead and 8 injured. That was due to a mass grave with victims of the Islamic State being discovered. It wasn’t that long ago that the province was a large base for the insurgency. Now IS is hardly active there, but its deadly legacy is still being revealed.

There has been a decided dip in IS activity in Baghdad since the battle for Mosul began. That has gone up and down since the start of the new year. In February there were 139 incidents leading to 204 killed and 501 wounded. In January the militants set off double digit car bombs in the governorate. In February that dipped to just 6, but 4 more were discovered before they exploded. IS used to operate in the heart of the city, but now it has extended its network to the suburbs called the Baghdad belts with supply lines stretching out to neighboring Anbar and Diyala. As a result there are usually just as many incidents in the surrounding towns as the city itself, especially in the south and north.

Basra has seen a recent spate of violence. There were 19 incidents in February. Most of those were IEDs with 22 total. Most of these did not result in casualties as shown by the fact that only 3 people passed away and one was wounded. A truck bomb was found and dismantled before it could off. It’s not clear who is behind all of these attacks, but politics is involved in some of them. This has led to a dispute over who should be in charge of security. Hashd groups are demanding that they take over, while the provincial council is asking Baghdad for more assistance. Basra’s government is weary of giving the Hashd any official role, because it knows many of the groups have political aspirations and others were involved in violence and crime before.

The Islamic State has been rebuilding in Diyala as well to the consternation of the local government. Their operations in the province are low with only just over one incident per day. Still IS attempts mass casualty bombings almost every week and in February there were 6 car bombings and a suicide bomber was arrested. In total 44 people were killed and 54 wounded. More importantly the militants are using the governorate to ferry men and material into Baghdad.

A suicide car bomber was killed in the rural area of northwestern Karbala. This likely came from Anbar. Luckily it was intercepted before it could reach Karbala city.

Ninewa was by far the most violent province with 321 incidents, 1,185 dead, and 1,780 wounded. Fighting in west Mosul with its densely packed neighborhoods is taking a heavy toll on the civilians. IS attacks upon liberated east Mosul were also generating a large number of casualties.

Salahaddin officials have also been complaining about IS returning to its old dens. Eastern regions of the province have never been cleared and IS continues to launch attacks in the Samarra area and has returned to Tikrit. There are not many total incidents however with just 29 in February resulting in 33 deaths and 23 wounded. Like Diyala, it appears that IS is still in the rebuilding mode in the province.

Diyala, Salahaddin and Kirkuk officials have all blamed the Hawija district, which is still under IS control as being a destabilizing force. Politicians routinely claim that IS cells are moving out of Hawija into other provinces. Kirkuk officials in turn constantly call on Baghdad to launch a campaign to free the district. With Mosul still not liberated however, that will have to wait. Despite IS still having a base in Kirkuk violence remains minimal. There were only 21 incidents in February with 61 killed and 13 injured. Most of the deaths were the result of IS executing people or civilians getting killed trying to flee the organization.

Turkey regularly bombs PKK bases in northern Kurdistan. Rarely are casualty figures given, but in February Ankara claimed that five such strikes led to the deaths of 86 PKK members. There’s no way to verify these numbers and no injured were given. Ironically, the Kurdistan Regional Government rarely says anything about these air strikes as the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) is aligned with Turkey and the PKK is a long time rival in the larger Kurdish movement of the Middle East.

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
Feb 22-28	181	630 + 399	1,386 + 1,634
FEB	613	1,832 + 399	2,458 + 1,634

Violence By Province February 2017

Province	Violence
Anbar	30 Incidents 63 Killed: 11 ISF, 52 Civilians 78 Wounded: 24 ISF, 54 Civilians 10 Shootings 7 IEDs 2 Suicide Car Bombs 1 Car Bomb 1 Rockets 2 Suicide Bombers Killed 2 Suicide Car Bombs Destroyed 4 Car Bombs Destroyed
Babil	2 Incidents 150 Killed: 150 Civilians 8 Wounded: 8 Hashd
Baghdad	139 Incidents 204 Killed: 1 Sahwa, 2 Hashd, 6 ISF, 195 Civilians 501 Wounded: 1 Sahwa, 1 Hashd, 22 ISF, 477 Civilians 25 Shootings 79 IEDs 10 Sticky Bombs 2 Suicide Bombers 1 Suicide Car Bomb 5 Car Bombs 1 Rockets 2 Mortars 4 Suicide Bombers Killed/Arrested 2 Suicide Car Bombs Destroyed 2 Car Bombs Dismantled
Basra	19 Incidents 3 Killed: 1 Hashd, 2 Civilians 1 Wounded: 1 Civilian 5 Shootings 22 IEDs 3 Sound Bombs 1 Truck Bomb Dismantled
Diyala	45 Incidents 44 Killed: 6 ISF, 10 Hashd, 28 Civilians 54 Wounded: 10 Hashd, 20 Civilians, 24 ISF 18 Shootings 20 IEDs 3 Sticky Bombs 3 Suicide Car Bombs 3 Car Bombs 1 Suicide Bomber Arrested
Irbil	1 Incident 1 Killed: 1 Civilian 1 Shooting
Karbala	1 incident 1 Suicide Car Bomb Killed
Kirkuk	21 Incidents 61 Killed: 1 Hashd, 1 ISF, 3 Peshmerga, 56 Civilians 13 Wounded: 4 Peshmerga, 9 Civilians 9 Shootings 10 IEDs
KRG	4 Incidents 86 Killed: 86 PKK 5 Turkish Air Strikes
Ninewa	321 Incidents 1,185 Killed + 399 ISF: 1 IRGC, 37 Hashd, 67 ISF, 1,080 Civilians 1,780 Wounded + 1,634 ISF: 1 Coalition Soldier, 2 US Soldiers, 28 Hashd, 197 ISF, 1,552 Civilians 59 Shootings 28 IEDs 11 Suicide Bombers 4 Suicide Car Bombs 27 Car Bombs 43 Mortars 26 Rockets 45 Drone Strikes 95 Suicide Bombers Arrested/Killed 2 Motorcycle Bombs Destroyed 12 Suicide Car Bombs Destroyed 218 Car Bombs Destroyed
Salahaddin	29 Incidents 33 Killed: 1 Peshmerga, 2 ISF, 10 Civilians, 20 Hashd 23 Wounded: 1 Peshmerga, 5 Civilians, 6 ISF, 11 Hashd 17 Shootings 7 IEDs 1 Suicide Bomber 1 Car Bomb 2 Mortars 7 Suicide Bombers Killed 4 Car Bombs Destroyed
Unknown	1 Incident 2 Killed: 2 ISF