Security In Iraq July 1-7, 2018

During the first week of July 2018, the security forces (ISF) launched a major sweep through central Iraq after several people were kidnapped and murdered along the Baghdad-Kirkuk highway. Unfortunately, this operation and several others had no real effect upon violence. There were roughly the same number of incidents in Diyala, Kirkuk, and Salahaddin as the previous week. These are the three areas where the Islamic State is rebuilding the insurgency.

From July 1-7, there were 56 incidents reported in the media. Since May there have been roughly 50 incidents per week. Kirkuk, 10 incidents, Diyala, 14, and Baghdad, 15, had the most activity. There was also a Turkish air strike in northern Kurdistan and an assassination of a commander in Moqtada al-Sadr’s Sayara al-Salam militia in Najaf.

Security Incidents In Iraq By Province Jul 1-7, 2018

Anbar 1

Kurdistan 1

Babil 2

Salahaddin 5

Ninewa 7

Diyala 14

Baghdad 15

Kirkuk 10

Casualties In Iraq By Province July 1-7, 2018

Najaf 1 (1 Killed)

Anbar 2 (1 Killed, 1 Wounded)

Babil 3 (1 Killed, 2 Wounded)

Kurdistan (4 Killed)

Ninewa 13 (8 Killed, 5 Wounded)

Salahaddin 17 (3 Killed, 14 Wounded)

Baghdad 30 (7 Killed, 23 Wounded)

Diyala 34 (18 Killed, 16 Wounded)

Kirkuk 45 (15 Killed, 30 Wounded)

56 people lost their lives and 91 were wounded during the week. 4 members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), 9 Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), 11 Hashd al-Shaabi, and 34 civilians were killed, while 11 Hashd, 17 ISF, and 63 civilians were wounded.

Anbar, Babil, and Ninewa remained relatively quiet. In Anbar, there was just one IED in Rutba in the west by the Jordanian and Saudi border. In Babil, there was mortar fire on a checkpoint and a woman’s body was found shot both in the north. There are Islamic State elements both infiltrating into the west of Babil from Anbar as well as cells operating in the upper section of the province. In Ninewa, there were 7 incidents. That included a mukhtar’s house being bombed by an IED in Mosul, a car bomb being destroyed in Tal Safouk in the west along the Syrian border, and a Mukhtar and his three sons being killed within their home in the Badush district just west of Mosul. Since the start of the year, IS has largely withdrawn from these governorates leading to only sporadic attacks in all three.

Towards the end of June, 52 Shiite militiamen were killed in an airstrike in eastern Syria. Pro-Iranian Hashd elements immediately blamed the United States for their deaths. The Americans reported no activity in that sector, and the media speculated that it was actually the Israelis that were responsible. The deputy commander of the Hashd Abu Muhandis told the media that fatalities were all members of the Hashd al-Shaabi and operating in Syria to defend the Anbar border town of Qaim. The Iraqi government has continuously denied that any Iraqi forces are officially fighting in Syria. Almost all the pro-Iran Hashd brigades however, have been fighting there since 2011 to help Tehran bolster the Assad government. Residents of Qaim told Al-Monitor that Hashd units are continuously crossing the border into Syria. While officially part of the Iraqi forces, the Abadi administration has little control over those whose loyalties lie with Iran.

Baghdad saw its normal mix of shootings and IEDs. The one exception was a town in the north was attacked by the insurgents, which is a growing trend during this summer.

(US Business Council in Iraq)

After several people were kidnapped and killed along the Baghdad-Kirkuk highway in June the government forces launched a large campaign to sweep the area called Revenge of the Martyrs. There were also three other sweeps in Diyala and Salahaddin during the week. These like earlier ones had no real effect upon security in Diyala, Kirkuk and Salahaddin. In Diyala, two villages were attacked, and the militants set up a fake checkpoint where they kidnapped and killed 7 people. In Kirkuk, a suicide car bomb hit a warehouse holding ballots that were being recounted. There was also an ambush of a tribal Hashd patrol in the Hawija district. Finally, in Salahaddin another village was assaulted by IS and one person kidnapped. Central Iraq is where IS is making its comeback. They have rebuilt their networks in rural, mountain and border areas of these three governorates and are now growing bolder in their operations. There are more direct confrontations with the security forces as well as different attempts to control these areas and intimidate the population. The regular government operations have been ineffective because they go through an area and then leave. They are also not getting good intelligence to try to break up these insurgent forces.

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	22	17	4	5	1	5	-	-
Jul	9	2	-	-	1	2	-	-

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	17	12	6	5	4	8	-	-
Jul	1	5	-	1	1	-	-	1

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	10	15	1	5	8	-	-	1
Jul	1	3	-	-	1	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
Jun 29-30	18	22	14
JUN	239	371 (327 Violent Deaths)	218
Jul 1-7	56	58	91

Violence By Province Jul 1-7, 2018

Province	Violence
Anbar	1 Incident 1 Killed 1 Civilian 1 Wounded 1 Civilian 1 IED
Babil	2 Incidents 1 Killed 1 Civilian 2 Wounded 2 Hashd 1 Shooting 1 Mortar
Baghdad	15 Incidents 7 Killed 1 ISF 1 Hashd 5 Civilians 23 Wounded 1 ISF 22 Civilians 4 Shootings 5IEDs 2 Sticky Bombs 1 Sound Bomb 2 Grenades
Diyala	14 Incidents 18 Killed 1 Hashd 4 ISF 13 Civilians 16 Wounded 2 ISF 6 Hashd 8 Civilians 11 Shootings 2 IEDs
Kirkuk	10 Incidents 15 Killed 2 ISF 6 Civilians 7 Hashd 30 Wounded 3 ISF 3 Hashd 24 Civilians 2 Shootings 5 IEDs 1 Suicide Car Bomb
Kurdistan	1 Incident 4 Killed 4 PKK 1 Turkish Air Strike
Najaf	1 Incident 1 Killed 1 Hashd 1 Shooting
Ninewa	7 Incidents 8 Killed 1 ISF 7 Civilians 5 Wounded 2 ISF 3 Civilians 2 Shootings 3 IEDs 1Car Bomb Destroyed
Salahaddin	5 Incidents 3 Killed 1 Civilian 1 ISF 1 Hashd 14 Wounded 5 Civilians 9 ISF 2 Shootings 3 IEDs

SOURCES

Al-Amir, Hussein, "Daesh executes 7 abducted civilians in Iraq's Diyala," Anadolu Agency, 7/6/18

Al Araby, “The Iraq Report: MPs fearing corruption charges flee Iraq en masse,” 7/5/18

Baghdad Post, "2 Iran-allied IMIS affiliates wounded in mortar attack northern Babel," 7/4/18

- "Iraqi security forces destroy ISIS car bomb on Iraqi-Syrian border," 7/3/18

Bas News, "Pictures: Another of Sadr's Aides Assassinated in Southern Baghdad," 7/4/18

Buratha News, "The popular crowd is carrying out a pre-emptive operation in the Hamrin Mountains," 7/7/18

Ebraheem, Mohammed, "Islamic State militants kill Iraqi policemen after storming village in Baghdad," Iraqi News, 7/3/18

Al Ghad Press, "Four people were injured in a failed attack on a border village between Diyala and Salahaddin," 7/2/18

Iraq Newspaper, "7 Killed And Wounded In The Popular Crowd North Of Baghdad," 7/2/18

- "Daesh Terrorist Commit New Crime In Mosul By Slaughtering The Mukhtar Of Bagla And His Three Children In Front Of Their Women," 7/5/18

- "Mukhtar In Nasr District Was Seriously Wounded And Two Members Of His Guards Were Killed In The Bombing Of His Home In Mosul," 7/2/18

Al Jazeera, "Iraq: Suicide bombing kills one near Kirkuk ballot box site," 7/1/18

Kittleson, Shelly, “Border calm precarious as Iraq’s Anbar revives, slowly,” Al Monitor, 7/2/18

Al Maalomah, "The popular crowd launches an operation to chase down Daesh remnants east of Samarra," 7/1/18

Mostafa, Nehal, "8 tribal fighters killed, injured in Islamic State attack, southwest of Kirkuk," Iraqi News, 7/1/18

- "Civilian killed, another wounded in bomb blast, west of Anbar," Iraqi News, 7/7/18

NINA, "The body of a girl found north of Babylon," 7/6/18

Rudaw, "Iraqi forces launch raid to clear Diyala of ISIS remnants," 7/2/18

- “Iraqi forces target ISIS, ‘White Flags’ on Kirkuk-Khurmatu-Kifri road,” 7/4/18

Shafaaq News, “Engineer accuses Joint Operations Command and announces details of the US raid,” 6/24/18

- "Turkey announces the killing of four PKK militants within the Kurdistan Region," 7/1/18

Al Sumaria, "One civilian was killed and another injured by a bomb on a road on a border village between Diyala and Salahaddin," 7/1/18

Xinhua, "2 killed, 1 kidnapped in IS attacks in central Iraq," 7/7/18

- "Security forces launch operation to hunt down IS militants in central Iraq," 7/4/18