Security In Iraq Dec 15-21, 2018

(Iraqi News)

For the fourth week in a row there has just been around 20 incidents in Iraq. This marks the lowest weekly totals since Musings On Iraq began tracking security in Iraq. It appears that the Islamic State is stepping back from carrying out attacks this winter.

There were 23 incidents December 15-21, 2018. There were 22 the week before, and 22 the first week of December and 28 the last full week of November. No area has been in double figures since the start of the month. Anbar and Ninewa were tied with 5 for most during the week.

Security Incidents In Iraq By Province

Province	Dec 1-7	Dec 8-14	Dec 15-21
Anbar	2	-	5
Babil	1	-	-
Baghdad	-	3	2
Diyala	4	8	3
Kirkuk	3	4	4
KRG	7	-	2
Ninewa	2	5	5
Qadisiya	-	1	-
Salahaddin	3	1	2
TOTALS	22	22	23

Casualties In Iraq By Province

Province	Dec 1-7	Dec 8-14	Dec 15-21
Anbar	2 (2K)	-	19 (6K, 13W)
Babil	4 (4W)	-	-
Baghdad	-	1 (1K)	2 (2K)
Diyala	2 (1K, 1W)	11 (3K, 8W)	3 (2K, 1W)
Kirkuk	5 (1K, 4W)	10 (3K, 7W)	2 (2W)
KRG	13 (13K)	-	7 (7K)
Ninewa	2 (2K)	14 (8K, 6W)	6 (5K, 1W)
Qadisiya	-	1 (1W)	-
Salahaddin	4 (2K, 2W)	-	1 (1K)
TOTALS	32 (21K, 11W)	37 (15K, 22W)	40 (23K, 17W)

Casualties have slowly climbed during December. There were 32 the first week of the month, 37 the second, and 40 the third. There were 19 in Anbar from December 15-21 to led the country. In total, 7 Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), 7 Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), and 9 civilians were killed, along with 7 civilians and 10 ISF being injured.

Turkish air strikes claimed another 7 PKK members in northern Kurdistan. These have no become routine with weekly reports of bombing missions.

Anbar had been very quiet the last few weeks. There were suddenly five incidents December 15-21. That included three IEDs on the security forces, one against civilians, and rocket fire at a house. That left 6 dead and 13 wounded total. During the fall there was a slight surge in attacks as IS was probing the area and setting off mass casualty bombings. That has since ended.

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	4	-	-	1	-	-	-

Since November IS related attacks have completely fallen off in Baghdad. There were only 13 incidents in November, and 5 so far in December.

There has been a revision of where the Islamic State is rebuilding. Diyala and Kirkuk are still major areas of operation, but Salahaddin is not anymore. Instead Ninewa has seen a constant level of activity. In Diyala, IS used to be most active in the rural areas of the north, center and west, but has since focused more on the northeast, specifically the Jalawla and Khanaqin districts exploiting gaps in security there that have emerged since the federal authorities took control there. The Hamrin Mountains that stretch across the Diyala and Salahaddin border remains a base as well. In Kirkuk the southern districts of Riyad and Halabja, along with the rural areas south of Mosul are the other areas where IS is most active. During the week there were the usual targeting of local security forces and mukhtars meant to establish the group’s control of the rural areas.

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	8	5	1	-	-	1	-	2	-	-

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	7	5	-	-	1	-	1	2	-	-

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	7	2	1	-	2	-	-	-	-

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	3	-	1	1	-	-	-	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	62	45	63
Jan 8-14	58	58	70
Jan 15-21	62	151	151
Jan 22-28	59	140	65
Jan 29-31	21	21	21
JAN 2018	265	417 (228 Bodies Found)	366
Feb 1-7	58	192	62
Feb 8-14	57	58	91
Feb 15-21	53	343	43
Feb 22-28	46	38	70
FEB	214	631 (416 Bodies Found)	266
Mar 1-7	68	115	79
Mar 8-14	52	75	59
Mar 15-21	64	165	98
Mar 22-28	77	210	61
Mar 29-31	19	26	34
MAR	280	591 (145 Bodies Found)	331
Apr 1-7	38	172	27
Apr 8-14	60	173	81
Apr 15-21	43	63	72
Apr 22-28	40	60	39
Apr 29-30	12	14	4
APR	193	482 (246 Bodies Found)	223
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	54	85	92
Oct 8-14	43	161	41
Oct 15-21	54	87	35
Oct 22-28	24	24	53
Oct 29-31	23	10	24
OCT	198	367 (190 Bodies Found)	245
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	22	21	11
Dec 8-14	22	15	22
Dec 15-21	23	23	17

Violence By Province Dec 15-21, 2018

Province	Violence
Anbar	5 Incidents 6 Killed 2 Civilians 4 ISF 13 Wounded 4 Civilians 9 ISF 4 IEDs 1 Rockets
Baghdad	2 Incidents 2 Killed 2 Civilians 2 Shootings
Diyala	3 Incidents 2 Killed 1 Civilian 1 ISF 1 Wounded 1 Civilian 3 Shootings
Kirkuk	4 Incidents 2 Wounded 2 Civilians 1 Shooting 5 IEDs 1 Mortar
Kurdistan	2 Incidents 7 Killed 7 PKK 2 Turkish Air Strikes
Ninewa	5 Incidents 5 Killed 1 ISF 4 Civilians 1 Wounded 1 ISF 4 Shootings 1 IED
Salahaddin	2 Incidents 1 Killed 1 ISF 1 Shooting 1 Mortar

SOURCES

Ebraheem, Mohammed, "Bomb blast kills Iraqi policeman in Anbar," Iraqi News, 12/15/18

Hurriyet Daily, "Turkey conducts new wave of airstrikes in Iraq's north," 12/17/18

Iraq Newspaper, "Daesh Terrorists, Killing Three, Including An Officer And Wounding Two Others By Shelling A House With Grenades In Ramadi," 12/17/18

- "Eight Iraqi Army Soldiers Killed And Injured In Bomb Explosion In Haditha," 12/20/18

- "Police Killed And Wounded In Terrorist Bombing In Qayara, South Of Mosul," 12/15/18

- "A Supporter Of The Terrorist Admits The Execution Of Mukhtar Al-Omrani Ragheb Al-Badrani In Mosul And Publishes 4 Pictures On Twitter," 12/20/18

Al Maalomah, "Two civilians wounded when a bomb exploded in western Ramadi," 12/21/18

Mostafa, Mohammed, "Three Iraqi police members killed in Anbar explosion," Iraqi News, 12/15/18

NINA, "A policeman killed in an armed attack in Baquba," 12/21/18

Shafaaq News, "Daash kills a member of the North Oil Police in an attack on a field in an Iraqi province," 12/19/18