Security In Iraq Jun 22-28, 2018

Security remained relatively the same between the third and fourth weeks of June. The number of incidents went from 42 from June 15-21 to 52 from June 22-28. The number of casualties went from 102 the third week to 123 the fourth. The other similarity was that the Islamic State continued its comeback with more kidnappings, confrontations with the security forces, and attacks upon villages across several provinces.

There were 52 incidents from June 22-28. The week before only one province had double digit incidents. This week there were four, Baghdad with 10, Kirkuk and Salahaddin with 12 each and Diyala with 13. Ninewa however had no violence at all.

Security Incidents In Iraq By Province Jun 22-28, 2018

Babil 1

Kurdistan 1

Anbar 3

Baghdad 10

Kirkuk 12

Salahaddin 12

Diyala 13

Casualties In Iraq By Province Jun 22-28, 2018

Babil 2 (2 Wounded)

Anbar 7 (3 Killed, 4 Wounded)

Baghdad 11 (6 Killed, 5 Wounded)

Kurdistan 15 (15 Killed)

Kirkuk 23 (7 Killed, 16 Wounded)

Diyala 29 (11 Killed, 18 Wounded)

Salahaddin 36 (16 Killed, 20 Wounded)

58 people were killed and 65 wounded during the week. 2 Hashd al-Shaabi, 12 Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), 15 members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), and 29 civilians lost their lives. Another 6 ISF and Hashd,7 Hashd, 16 civilians and 36 ISF were injured.

Anbar and Babil remained relatively quiet. There were 3 incidents in the former and 1 in the latter. IS had concentrated on the two in 2017 and earlier this year. The militants have since moved on to other parts of the country.

Baghdad had 10 incidents, which was about average the last several weeks. 6 people died and 5 were wounded. That came from the usual mix of shootings, IEDs and sticky bombs. The capital province used to be the center of terrorism in Iraq, but that hasn’t been true for months now. Again, that’s because IS is concentrating upon other areas.

Those places are Diyala, Kirkuk and Salahaddin. In Diyala, there were two shoot outs with insurgents, security towers were fired upon, mortars hit a checkpoint, the home of an Election Commission worker was invaded and four family members stabbed to death, and one village was attacked. In Kirkuk, the insurgents kidnapped a farmer, mortars fell on three villages and two more were assaulted. Finally, in Salahaddin, there was also a gun battle, an attack upon a checkpoint, and two kidnappings by the Islamic State, with 8 of those taken being executed. The deaths of those eight along the Baghdad-Kirkuk highway caused a public outcry. Officials complained about the lack of coordination amongst the security forces along that roadway. That pressure led Prime Minister Haidar Abadi to order a security operation in the area, and the immediate execution of 12 people who had been convicted of terrorism. Local politicians have also constantly complained about the deteriorating security in these three provinces, especially in the rural and border areas. Attacks in the southern Kirkuk forced up to 200 families to flee over the last two weeks. People were also said to be leaving parts of Diyala as well. The insurgency is still at a very low level as seen by the low number of incidents and casualties each week. However, there has been a decided change in the types of operations the insurgents have launched since March.

Finally, there was another week of Turkish bombings in northern Kurdistan aimed at the PKK. That left 15 Kurds dead. Ankara was aiming for the Qandil Mountains the traditional base for the PKK. Turkey just had elections however, so it’s yet to be seen whether this operation was just to garner votes or it is going to make an attempt upon the PKK headquarters.

Diyala	Shootings	IEDs/ Sticky Bombs	Mortars	Gun Battles	Kidnappings	Attacks on Towns	Suicide Bombers	Car Bombs
Jan	18	23	6	2	2	-	1	1
Feb	10	13	-	4	-	-	1	-
Mar	16	21	5	13	3	1	-	-
Apr	12	17	3	1	1	-	-	-
May	9	11	4	1	2	3	1	-
Jun 1-28	16	16	4	4	1	4	-	-

Kirkuk	Shootings	IEDs/ Sticky Bombs	Mortars	Gun Battles	Kidnappings	Attacks on Towns	Suicide Bombers	Car Bombs
Jan	9	6	3	4	-	-	3	1
Feb	14	13	4	7	-	-	1	-
Mar	14	15	3	8	4	1	1	1
Apr	11	4	1	2	-	8	-	1
May	12	28	4	2	2	1	4	-
Jun 1-28	16	11	6	3	4	8	-	-

Salahaddin	Shootings	IEDs/ Sticky Bombs	Mortars	Gun Battles	Kidnappings	Attacks on Towns	Suicide Bombers	Car Bombs
Jan	3	9	2	8	-	-	-	1
Feb	6	5	-	1	2	-	-	-
Mar	13	8	-	9	3	-	1	-
Apr	4	8	-	2	-	-	1	-
May	3	10	1	10	-	1	1	-
Jun 1-28	10	15	1	5	8	-	-	1

Security In Iraq 2017-18

Week	Security Incidents	Dead	Wounded
JAN 2017	719	1,923	4,374
FEB	628	1,891 + 399	2,511 + 1,634
MAR	720	3,504 + 278	3,302 + 2,925
APR	578	2,933	1,955
MAY	528	2,038	1,563
JUN	534	2,038	1,563
JUL	478	1,490	650
AUG	359	1,949	584
SEP	306	728	549
OCT	286	913	865 + 1,700
NOV	296	1,282	425
DEC	261	763	300
Jan 1-7	71	50	66
Jan 8-14	64	62	70
Jan 15-21	68	156	151
Jan 22-28	68	148	66
Jan 29-31	27	23	22
JAN 2018	298	439 (218 Violent Deaths)	375
Feb 1-7	66	196	67
Feb 8-14	65	63	93
Feb 15-21	59	346	43
Feb 22-28	55	44	72
FEB	245	649 (233 Violent Deaths)	275
Mar 1-7	78	120	84
Mar 8-14	60	84	61
Mar 15-21	67	168	98
Mar 22-28	81	213	61
Mar 29-31	21	26	35
MAR	307	611 (466 Violent Deaths)	339
Apr 1-7	40	174	29
Apr 8-14	64	175	83
Apr 15-21	44	63	72
Apr 22-28	44	62	48
Apr 29-30	12	12	4
APR	204	486 (240 Violent Deaths)	236
May 1-7	51	57	56
May 8-14	56	68	49
May 15-21	39	58	82
May 22-28	51	73	51
May 29-31	21	42	15
MAY	218	298 (273 Violent Deaths)	253
Jun 1-7	55	100	32
Jun 8-14	72	108	88
Jun 15-21	42	83	19
Jun 22-28	52	58	65

Violence By Province Jun 22-28, 2018

Province	Violence
Anbar	3 Incidents 3 Killed 1 Civilians 2 ISF 4 Wounded 2 Civilians 2 ISF 2 IEDs
Babil	1 Incident 2 Wounded 2 Hashd 1 IED
Baghdad	10 Incidents 6 Killed 6 Civilians 5 Wounded 5 Civilians 2 Shootings 3 IEDs 2 Sticky Bombs
Diyala	13 Incidents 11 Killed 2 ISF 9 Civilians 18 Wounded 6 Civilians 12 ISF 7 Shootings 4 IEDs 1 Mortar
Kirkuk	12 Incidents 7 Killed 1 Hashd 2 ISF 4 Civilians 16 Wounded 3 Civilians 5 Hashd 8 ISF 6 Shootings 3 Mortars
Kurdistan	1 Incident 15 Killed 15 PKK 1 Turkish Air Strike
Salahaddin	12 Incidents 16 Killed 1 Hashd 6 ISF 9 Civilians 20 Wounded 6 Police & Hashd 14 ISF 4 Shootings 6 IEDs

SOURCES

Baghdad Post, "7 IMIS terrorists killed, wounded in ISIS attack in Samarra," 6/25/18

- "Attackers kill 4 family members of HEC's employee in Diyala," 6/25/18

- "Two soldiers wounded in armed attack in Diyala," 6/22/18

Bas News, "Diyala: IS Stabs Three Family Members to Death," 6/25/18

- "IS Abducts Kurdish Farmer in South Kirkuk," 6/22/18

- "IS Fires Mortars at Hawija," 6/23/18

BBC, “Iraq executes 12 for terrorism after IS captives found dead,” 6/29/18

Ebraheem, Mohammed, "Six pro-gov't fighters killed, wounded in Islamic State attack in Kirkuk," Iraqi News, 6/27/18

Al Forat, "The discovery of important details about the assassins of the 8 bodies found in Tal al-Sharaf," 6/27/18

Al Ghad Press, "6 mortar shells landed near checkpoint northeast Diyala and the crowd is dealing with the sources of the fire," 6/24/18

- "Clashes between the security forces and Daash near Hamrin," 6/25/18

Hath Al-Youm, "Daash attacks Kurdish villages south of Kirkuk and begin displacement of families," 6/25/18

Hussein, Rikar, “IS Terror Group Surges in Iraq’s Disputed Territories,” Voice of America, 6/26/18

Iraq Newspaper, "Daesh Terrorists Claim To Kill And Wound Six In Car Bombing In Aden Square In Khadmiya, Central Baghdad, And In Attack On Khalis North Diyala," 6/28/18

- "Eight Iraqi Soldiers Were Killed And Wounded In An Attack By Terrorists North Of Baghdad," 6/23/18

Al Maalomah, “Kataib Hezbollah blame the government for the murder of the kidnapped in south Kirkuk,” 6/28/18

- "A mortar shell landed south Kirkuk," 6/28/18

- “The popular crowd: Weak coordination between the security services behind the crimson the Baghdad-Kirkuk road,” 6/21/18

Mostafa, Mohamed, “Iraqi premier orders offensives in retaliation for kidnapping,” Iraqi News, 6/28/18

- "UPDATED: Bodies of people kidnapped by Islamic State in Iraq found," Iraqi News, 6/27/18

NINA, "A civilian was injured by mortar shelling of a village in Kirkuk," 6/22/18

- "Daesh Target Two Security Towers In The Waqf Basin Northeast of Baquba," 6/23/18

Shafaaq News, “Abadi directs the immediate execution of those sentenced,” 6/28/18

- “Kirkuk determines the most dangerous areas,” 6/24/18

Al Sumaria, “Governor of Kirkuk calls on Abadi to send additional security forces to the province,” 6/27/18

- “Kurdish deputy: 200 displaced Kurdish families from villages in Daquq district because of Daesh,” 6/26/18

World Bulletin, "Turkey 'neutralizes' 15 PKK terrorists in northern Iraq," 6/23/18

Xinhua, "Policeman killed, 6 civilians kidnapped in IS attacks in Iraq's Salahudin," 6/25/18