Security In Iraq Aug 1-7, 2018

Security remained steady in Iraq during the first week of August. Most violence continued to be concentrated in central Iraq, and Turkey’s campaign against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) entered its fifth month.

(Iraqi News)

There were 49 incidents reported in the media from August 1-7, 2018. That’s around the average since April. Diyala and Baghdad were the only provinces with double digits with 10 and 12 incidents respectively.

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

Babil 1

Dohuk 1

Irbil 1

Kurdistan 1

Muthanna 1

Sulaymaniya 1

Anbar 2

Kirkuk 6

Salahaddin 6

Ninewa 7

Diyala 10

Baghdad 12

Casualties In Iraq By Province Aug 1-7, 2018

Dohuk 1 (1 Killed)

Muthanna 1 (1 Wounded)

Kirkuk 3 (1 Killed, 2 Wounded)

Kurdistan 3 (3 Killed)

Anbar 4 (2 Killed, 2 Wounded)

Baghdad 10 (9 Killed, 11 Wounded)

Salahaddin 13 (13 Killed)

Diyala 18 (6 Killed, 12 Wounded)

Ninewa 24 (22 Killed, 2 Wounded)

57 people lost their lives and 30 were wounded during the week. 8 bodies were found in the rubble of west Mosul leaving 49 violent deaths. Minus the 5 deaths in the south and Kurdistan, there were 44 killed by the insurgency.

3 PKK, 4 Hashd al-Shaabi, 7 Iraqi security forces (ISF), and 43 civilians died, along with 9 ISF and 21 civilians were injured.

Diyala, Kirkuk and Salahaddin remained the center of the insurgency. The Islamic State was still active in nearly every rural area of Diyala. A councilman in the Khanaqin district in the northeast said that families were fleeing the area due to violence. In Kirkuk, militants targeted electricity lines in four incidents, and there was one gun battle with the security forces. The militants raided a house and killed a family of four in Salahaddin. For the second week, there was also a confrontation with IS in the Makhmour district which is in the southern tip of Irbil by Salahaddin and Kirkuk.

The major event in Salahaddin however was a confrontation between the Khazraj tribe and Asaib Ahl Al-Haq (AAH). 3 sheikhs from the tribe were returning from a funeral for a member of the tribe in the security forces that had been killed, when they were stopped and kidnapped at a checkpoint around Dujail. The tribe then sent its men to the area and got into a shooting match with AAH. Afterward the provincial council called for the prime minister to withdraw the Hashd. Various Hashd units have been accused of setting up ad hoc checkpoints, demanding bribes, and kidnapping people in this province for several years now. The local and central governments have not been able to do anything about this problem because the Hashd are only nominally under their authority, and each group has its own leadership. This incident got into the news because it involved sheikhs and a major confrontation, but there have been dozens of others that were never reported.

Finally, there were two Turkish air strikes in northern Kurdistan that killed a civilian and 3 PKK members. Ankara began a major incursion into the area in March and there have been clashes, shelling and air strikes every week since then.

Islamic State Activity in Central Iraq 2018

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	14	19	1	3	2	3	-	-
Aug	4	5	1	-	-	-	-	-

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	6	17	-	1	2	-	-	1
Aug	3	2	-	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	7	8	1	1	1	1	1	-
Aug	1	3	-	-	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
Jul 8-14	44	57	31
Jul 15-21	54	61	64
Jul 22-28	36	65	21
Jul 29-31	24	26	11
JUL	214	267 (222 Violent Deaths)	218
Aug 1-7	49	57	30

Violence By Province Aug 1-7, 2018

Province	Violence
Anbar	2 Incidents 2 Killed 2 ISF 2 Wounded 2 ISF 1 Shooting 1 IED
Babil	1 Incident 1 Rockets
Baghdad	12 Incidents 9 Killed 1 ISF 8 Civilians 11 Wounded 1 ISF 10 Civilians 3 Shootings 4 IEDs
Diyala	10 Incidents 6 Killed 6 Civilians 12 Wounded 4 ISF 8 Civilians 4 Shootings 5 IEDs 1 Mortar
Dohuk	1 Incident 1 Killed 1 Civilian 1 Turkish Air Strike
Irbil	1 Incident 1 Gunfire
Kirkuk	6 Incidents 1 Killed 1 Civilian 2 Wounded 2 Civilians 4 Shootings 2 IEDs
Kurdistan	1 Incident 3 Killed 3 PKK 1 Turkish Air Strike
Muthanna	1 Incident 1 Wounded 1 Civilian 1 Shooting
Ninewa	7 Incidents 22 Killed 1 ISF 21 Civilians 2 Wounded 2 ISF 1 Shooting 3 IEDs
Salahaddin	6 Incidents 13 Killed 3 ISF 4 Hashd 6 Civilians 3 Shootings 3 IEDs
Sulaymaniya	1 Incident 1 Shooting

SOURCES

14^th March, “Salahaddin governor accuses Asaib Ahl Al-Haq militia of kidnapping and killing civilians,” 8/1/18

Baghdad Post, "Iraqi police kill 3 terrorists, wound 2 others in Kirkuk," 8/7/18

Bas News, "Ankara Claims It "Neutralized" Three PKK Fighters," 8/2/18

Al Ghad Press, “The commander of Samarra and Salahaddin police chief arrived in Dujail to control the security situation,” 8/1/18

Al Maalomah, "A civilian was killed by Turkish air strikes in Dohuk," 8/7/18

Al Mada, “Assassinations and kidnappings threaten to blow up the situation between the Dujail clans and a faction of the crowd,” 8/5/18

Al Masalah, "A sabotage operation cuts electricity from three governorates," 8/4/18

Mostafa, Nehal, "Three people of one family killed in armed attack, fourth kidnapped, south of Salahuddin," Iraqi News, 8/6/18

NINA, “Dozens of families from the eastern villages of Khanaqin in Diyala were displaced by terrorist threats,” 8/4/18

- "Gunmen Assassinate Family Of 4 In Hawai al-Bassat, North of Samarra," 8/8/18

Rudaw, "Kirkuk-Diyala electricity lines sabotaged again; Iraq blames 'terrorism,'" 8/2/18

- “Withdraw Shiite Hashd militias from Saladin, council urge PM Abadi,” 8/2/18

Sotaliraq, "Armed clash between Iraqi forces and Daash near Makhmour," 8/5/18