Security In Iraq Dec 1-7, 2018

Violence and casualties remained extremely low in Iraq during the first week of December 2018. While the insurgency has always ebbed and flowed the poor weather and heavy flooding continued, which probably put a major damper on the ability of the militants to carry out their operations.

There were just 34 incidents reported in Iraq during the week. That was up from 28 the last full week of November, but still below the 40-50 incidents the country was seeing in previous months. Once again, Baghdad had the most incidents with 12 after only 5 from November 22-28.

Security Incidents In Iraq By Province

Province	Nov 22-28	Dec 1-7
Anbar	1	2
Babil	-	1
Baghdad	5	12
Basra	1	-
Diyala	8	4
Kirkuk	2	3
KRG	4	7
Ninewa	6	2
Salahaddin	1	3
TOTALS	28	34

Casualties In Iraq By Province

Province	Nov 22-28	Dec 1-7
Anbar	4 (4W)	2 (2K)
Babil	-	4 (4W)
Baghdad	10 (6K, 4W)	5 (5K)
Basra	1 (1W)	-
Diyala	14 (10K, 4W)	2 (1K, 1W)
Kirkuk	3 (1K, 2W)	5 (1K, 4W)
KRG	10 (10K)	13 (13K)
Ninewa	24 (9K, 15W)	2 (2K)
Salahaddin	1 (1K)	4 (2K, 2W)
TOTALS	67 (37K, 30W)	37 (26K, 11W)

There were 26 reported deaths during the week vs 67 the last full week of November. 1 was a body discovered in Baiji from the time when the Islamic State controlled the area, and 13 were Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) members killed by Turkey. Another 11 people were wounded. In total, 2 Hashd al-Shaabi, 11 civilians and 13 PKK were killed along with 5 civilians and 6 Hashd that were injured. Kurdistan was the only area in double figures.

As usual, there were very few incidents in Anbar. However, IS is changing the nature of attacks there. A car bomb was discovered and dismantled in Fallujah, while a mukhtar and his son were killed in Hit. If the vehicle bomb had gone off it would have been the second time the city was bombed and the fifth time a major urban area had been targeted in the last two months.

There were few incidents in the three central provinces where IS is rebuilding. All together there were just 10 incidents between Diyala, Kirkuk and Salahaddin. In Diyala, the town of Saraya was hit by mortar fire, some militants were caught trying to infiltrate in between the Khanaqin and Sadiya districts in the northeast, and an IED was discovered around an electricity tower in Qara Tappa. In Kirkuk, a village was attacked and there was mortar fire on a town, both in the south. Finally, in Salahaddin a checkpoint was shot at and a suicide bomber was killed while moving through Alam near Tikrit in the center of the governorate. These are all the areas where IS is rebuilding in and asserting its control.

Similar types of incidents are now occurring in Ninewa. During the week for instance, a mukhtar was kidnapped and assassinated.

Islamic State Activity in Anbar 2018

Anbar	Shootings (Totals)	IEDs/ Sticky Bombs (Totals)	Gun Battles	Attacks on Checkpoints	Attacks on Mukhtars/ Sheikhs	Kidnappings	Suicide Bombers	Car Bombs
Jun	4	3	2	-	-	1	-	-
Jul	3	5	1	-	-	-	-	-
Aug	4	4	2	1	-	-	-	1
Sep	3	8	-	-	-	-	2	-
Oct	9	5	3	1	1	2	1	1
Nov	1	3	-	-	1	1	-	-
Dec	1	-	-	-	1	-	-	-

Islamic State Activity in Central Iraq 2018

Diyala	Shootings (Totals)	IEDs/ Sticky Bombs (Totals)	Gun Battles	Attacks on Checkpoints	Attacks on Mukhtars/ Sheikhs	Kidnappings	Attacks on Towns	Mortars	Suicide Bombers	Car Bombs
Jan	20	24	2	7	-	1	-	6	1	1
Feb	14	13	4	3	-	-	-	-	1	-
Mar	29	21	14	5	1	2	1	5	-	-
Apr	13	18	2	2	-	-	-	2	-	-
May	11	11	1	3	1	1	3	4	1	-
Jun	32	17	5	12	-	1	5	4	-	-
Jul	20	19	2	3	-	2	3	1	-	-
Aug	17	18	2	2	1	1	3	3	-	-
Sep	20	12	5	1	-	2	5	5	-	-
Oct	11	22	2	-	1	1	-	4	-	-
Nov	17	13	5	2	1	1	4	4	-	-
Dec	2	1	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-

Kirkuk	Shootings (Totals)	IEDs/ Sticky Bombs (Totals)	Gun Battles	Attacks on Checkpoints	Attacks on Mukhtars/ Sheikhs	Kidnappings	Attacks on Towns	Mortars Rockets	Suicide Bombers	Car Bombs
Jan	13	6	4	1	-	-	-	3	3	1
Feb	21	10	7	3	-	-	-	4	1	-
Mar	22	15	11	2	-	2	1	3	1	1
Apr	18	4	3	1	-	-	8	1	-	1
May	14	28	2	-	2	1	1	4	4	-
Jun	25	12	4	2	-	2	10	6	-	-
Jul	7	20	1	2	-	-	-	-	-	1
Aug	7	20	2	1	2	-	-	2	-	1
Sep	14	25	2	2	1	3	4	2	-	-
Oct	16	29	1	4	4	1	4	2	-	1
Nov	7	7	2	-	-	2	-	1	-	-
Dec	2	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	-	-

Salahaddin	Shootings (Totals)	IEDs/ Sticky Bombs (Totals)	Gun Battles	Attacks on Checkpoints	Attacks on Mukhtars/ Sheikhs	Kidnappings	Attacks on Towns	Mortars Rockets	Suicide Bombers	Car Bombs
Jan	11	9	8	-	-	-	-	2	-	1
Feb	7	5	1	1	-	2	-	-	-	-
Mar	23	8	9	2	-	3	-	-	1	-
Apr	6	8	2	2	-	-	-	-	1	-
May	14	10	10	1	1	-	-	1	1	-
Jun	15	15	4	1	-	7	-	-	-	1
Jul	9	6	-	4	-	-	2	1	1	-
Aug	9	15	1	3	-	1	1	1	1	-
Sep	5	10	1	1	-	-	1	1	3	1
Oct	2	9	1	-	-	1	-	1	1	-
Nov	5	7	2	2	-	1	-	1	-	2
Dec	1	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-

Islamic State Activity in Ninewa 2018

Ninewa	Shootings (Totals)	IEDs/ Sticky Bombs (Totals)	Gun Battles	Attacks on Checkpoints	Attacks on Mukhtars/ Sheikhs	Kidnappings	Attacks on Towns	Suicide Bombers	Car Bombs
Jun	7	2	3	1	-	-	-	-	-
Jul	9	9	1	1	1	1	2	-	-
Aug	9	9	2	-	-	1	1	-	-
Sep	8	3	2	-	-	-	-	1	-
Oct	13	5	-	1	-	1	-	-	1
Nov	9	7	2	1	-	-	3	-	1
Dec	2	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-

(Gun Battles, Attacks on Checkpoints, Attacks on Mukhtars, Attacks on Towns are all subsets of the total number of shootings and IEDs/Sticky Bombs reported)

Suicide-Car Bombs In Iraq 2018

Month	Suicide Bombers	Car Bombs	Totals
Jan	7 (1- Diyala, 3 – Baghdad/Baghdad, 3 - Kirkuk)	6 (1- Anbar, 1 – Diyala, 1 – Kirkuk, 1 – Salahaddin, 2 - Babil)	13
Feb	4 (1 – Anbar/Ramadi 1 – Diyala 1 – Kirkuk 1 - Ninewa)	-	4
Mar	2 (1 – Kirkuk/Kirkuk 1 - Salahaddin)	1 (1 – Kirkuk)	3
Apr	4 (1 - Salahaddin 3 – Anbar)	1 (1 – Kirkuk/Kirkuk)	5
May	8 (1 – Diyala 1 - Salahaddin) 2 – Baghdad/1 - Baghdad 4 - Kirkuk)	-	8
Jun		1 (1 – Salahaddin/Tikrit)	1
Jul	1 (1 – Salahaddin/Tikrit)	1 (1 – Kirkuk/Kirkuk)	2
Aug	1 (1 – Salahaddin)	2 (1 – Anbar, 1 – Kirkuk)	3
Sep	6 (1 – Ninewa) 2 – Anbar 3 – Salahaddin)	2 (1 – Kirkuk 1 – Salahaddin)	8
Oct	2 (1 – Anbar/Fallujah 1 – Salahaddin)	3 (1 – Anbar/Fallujah 1 – Kirkuk/Kirkuk 1 - Ninewa)	5
Nov	-	3 (1 – Ninewa/Mosul 2 – Salahaddin/Tikrit)	3
Dec	-	-	-

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
Aug 8-14	47	43	51
Aug 15-21	45	26	45
Aug 22-28	42	29	64
Aug 29-31	33	69	44
AUG	216	224 (209 Violent Deaths)	234
Sep 1-7	45	46	61
Sep 8-14	57	67	127
Sep 15-21	50	93	71
Sep 22-28	47	27	33
Sep 29-30	11	20	29
SEP	210	253 (195 Violent Deaths)	321
Oct 1-7	60	88	94
Oct 8-14	50	169	48
Oct 15-21	56	88	37
Oct 22-28	31	28	54
Oct 29-31	25	10	24
OCT	222	383 (193 Violent Deaths)	257
Nov 1-7	38	80	46
Nov 8-14	42	112	19
Nov 15-21	36	56	29
Nov 22-28	28	37	30
Nov 29-30	11	5	27
NOV	155	290 (197 Violent Deaths)	151
Dec 1-7	34	26	11

Violence By Province Dec 1-7, 2018

Province	Violence
Anbar	2 Incidents 2 Killed 1 Civilian 1 Hashd 1 Shooting 1 Car Bomb Destroyed
Babil	1 Incident 4 Wounded 4 Hashd 1 IED
Baghdad	12 Incidents 5 Killed 5 Civilians 6 Shootings
Diyala	4 Incidents 1 Killed 1 Civilian 1 Wounded 1 Civilian 2 Shootings 1 IED 1 Mortar
Kirkuk	3 Incidents 1 Killed 1 Civilian 4 Wounded 4 Civilians 2 Shootings 1 Mortar
Kurdistan	7 Incidents 13 Killed 13 PKK 7 Turkish Air Strikes
Ninewa	2 Incidents 2 Killed 2 Civilians 2 Shootings
Salahaddin	3 Incidents 2 Killed 1 Civilian 1 Hashd 2 Wounded 2 Hashd 1 Shooting 1 Suicide Bomber Killed

SOURCES

Baghdad Post, "A civilian was injured when a mortar shell landed near a municipal district north of Baquba," 12/4/18

- "Dismantled an explosive device was placed in front of the main tower of electricity northeast Diyala," 12/7/18

- "One member of the popular crowd was killed and two others were wounded in an armed attack south of Balad," 12/1/18

Bas News, "IS Kills Tribal Chief in Mosul," 12/4/18

Erozden, Can, "Turkish forces 'neutralize' 5PKK terrorists in N. Iraq," Anadolu Agency, 12/4/18

Al Forat, "URGENT The crowd kills and injures three suicide bombers," 12/6/18

Al Ghad Press, "Eight PKK members were killed by Turkish shelling of their positions in northern Iraq," 12/7/18

Al Maalomah, "Unknown body found in central Baiji district," 12/5/18

NINA, "Daesh Attack A Village In Kirkuk," 12/2/18

- "Daesh Attack A Village In Mosul And Kidnap Its Mukhtar," 12/4/18

- "Daesh bombarded a village in Hawija with mortars," 12/4/18

- "The Popular Mobilization Forces Foil An Attempt To Daesh To Sneak Into Areas, North-East Of Baquba," 12/6/18