Security In Iraq, Jan 1-7, 2019

(Shafaaq News)

For over two months now violence has remained very low in Iraq. That’s because the Islamic State has largely packed up during the winter.

First off, Musings On Iraq has refined its data collection. Now only security incidents most likely attributable to the insurgency along with Turkish strikes on the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the north are being recorded. The goal is to try to be more focused upon the Islamic State as it attempts a comeback in Iraq.

There were 32 incidents reported in Iraq from January 1-7, 2019. Since October 22-28 there has been 20-30 incidents per week. In December for example, there were 22 incidents the first week, 22 the second, 23 the third and 30 the fourth. Kirkuk was the only province in double figures with 10 incidents. All but one of the incidents was attributable to the insurgency. The one exception was a Turkish air strike in Kurdistan that killed 7 members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Security Incidents In Iraq By Province

Province	Jan 1-7
Anbar	6
Baghdad	3
Diyala	5
Kirkuk	10
KRG	1
Ninewa	3
Salahaddin	4
TOTALS	32

Casualties In Iraq By Province

Province	Jan 1-7
Anbar	4 (1K, 3)
Baghdad	3 (3K)
Diyala	2 (2W)
Kirkuk	16 (2K, 14W)
KRG	7 (7K)
Ninewa	3 (3K)
Salahaddin	6 (1K, 5)
TOTALS	41 (17K, 24W)

17 people were killed and 24 wounded during the week. 7 PKK and 10 civilians lost their lives, along with 3 Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), 6 Hashd al-Shaabi, and 15 civilians being injured. Kirkuk led the country with 2 killed and 14 wounded.

The Islamic State had largely withdrawn from Anbar during the winter, but there were six incidents this week. That included a suicide bombing, a car bomb being dismantled, and one shoot out with the security forces. That was the only suicide bombing in Iraq during the start of January.

Two other areas IS has pulled back from are Baghdad and Salahaddin. In the capital province there were only three incidents there, all shootings in the outer north and outer west. In Salahaddin there were four incident that included an attack upon a Hashd base, where 1 popular mobilization fighter was kidnapped. IS also snatched four people, three of which were freed in the Hamrin district in the east.

Diyala, Kirkuk and Ninewa remained the core area of IS’s rebuilding. There were five incidents in Diyala with mortar fire on a village in the Muqtadiya district in the center and an attack upon a police station in Khanaqin in the northeast. Additionally, there were reports that the insurgents were picking up attacks in Buhriz in the west, and were hindering farming in the center due to its operations there. Kirkuk had ten incidents including an attempt upon the life of a senior police officer in the northwest, an attack upon a checkpoint in the Hawija district in the south, mortar fire upon two towns in the south, and an IED on the house of a tribal Hashd member in the west. A Kurdish official in the Dibs district in the north claimed that people were fleeing there due to IS threats. Finally, in Ninewa there were just three attacks including three people being executed in the Badush district, northwest of Mosul. These are typical of the Islamic State as it attempts to regroup, and assert its authority over the rural areas of these three provinces. It is intimidating townspeople and the local security forces, and punishing those that defy its will.

Islamic State Activity in Iraq 2018-19

Anbar	Shootings (Totals)	IEDs/ Sticky Bombs (Totals)	Gun Battles	Attacks on Checkpoints	Attacks on Mukhtars/ Sheikhs	Mortars/ Rockets	Kidnappings	Suicide Bombers	Car Bombs
Jan 2018	8	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	1
Feb	3	8	1	-	-	-	-	1	-
Mar	6	15	3	2	-	1	1	-	-
Apr	1	5	1	-	-	-	-	3	-
May	2	7	-	-	1	-	-	-	-
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	-	-	-	-
Jan 2019	2	1	1	-	-	-	-	1	-

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 2018	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	15	10	3	3	-	1	1	2	-	-
Jan 2019	3	1	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 2018	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	8	6	-	-	1	3	1	2	-	-
Jan 2019	2	7	-	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
Jan 2018	18	8	7	1	1	-	-	-	-
Feb	19	7	8	1	-	1	-	1	-
Mar	20	6	7	1	-	1	-	-	-
Apr	8	6	4	-	-	-	-	-	-
May	11	6	6	-	-	-	-	-	-
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	8	6	1	-	3	1	-	-	1
Jan 2019	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 2018	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	4	-	2	1	-	1	-	1	-	-
Jan 2019	1	1	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 2018-19

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	-	1 (1 – Ninewa)	1

Security In Iraq 2018-19

Week	Security Incidents	Dead	Wounded
JAN 2018	265	417 (196 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 (215 Violent Deaths)	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 (446 Violent Deaths)	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 (236 Violent Deaths)	223
May 1-7	45	52	55
May 8-14	55	68	49
May 15-21	35	55	80
May 22-28	49	72	51
May 29-31	16	39	15
MAY	200	286 (261 Violent Deaths)	250
Jun 1-7	50	96	29
Jun 8-14	67	107	88
Jun 15-21	40	82	19
Jun 22-28	45	53	62
Jun 29-30	17	21	14
JUN	219	359 (315 Violent Deaths)	212
Jul 1-7	50	56	90
Jul 8-14	42	56	31
Jul 15-21	50	59	63
Jul 22-28	29	61	19
Jul 29-31	23	25	11
JUL	194	257 (212 Violent Deaths)	214
Aug 1-7	43	49	30
Aug 8-14	43	38	44
Aug 15-21	38	24	40
Aug 22-28	35	25	61
Aug 29-31	27	68	43
AUG	186	204 (189 Violent Deaths)	218
Sep 1-7	38	44	54
Sep 8-14	48	63	127
Sep 15-21	44	90	70
Sep 22-28	36	22	27
Sep 29-30	9	19	29
SEP	175	237 (179 Violent Deaths)	307
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 (177 Violent Deaths)	245
Nov 1-7	32	75	36
Nov 8-14	39	111	19
Nov 15-21	30	51	29
Nov 22-28	26	36	30
Nov 29-30	9	4	27
NOV	136	276 (183 Violent Deaths_	141
Dec 1-7	22	21	11
Dec 8-14	22	15	22
Dec 15-21	23	23	17
Dec 22-28	30	24	37
Dec 29-31	15	225	4
DEC	112	308 (96 Violent Deaths)	91
Jan 1-7	32	17	24

Violence By Province Dec 2018

Province	Violence
Anbar	6 Incidents 1 Killed 1 Civilian 3 Wounded 1 Hashd 2 Civilians 2 Shootings 1 IED 1 Suicide Bomber 1 Car Bomb Dismantled
Baghdad	3 Incidents 3 Killed 3 Civilians 3 Shootings
Diyala	5 Incidents 2 Wounded 1 Civilian 1 ISF 3 Shootings 1 IED 1 Mortar
Kirkuk	10 Incidents 2 Killed 2 Civilians 14 Wounded 2 ISF 12 Wounded 2 Shootings 7 IEDs 2 Mortars
Kurdistan	1 Incident 7 Killed 7 PKK 1 Turkish Air Strike
Ninewa	3 Incidents 3 Killed 3 Civilians 1 Shooting
Salahaddin	4 Incident 1 Killed 1 Civilian 5 Wounded 5 Hashd 1 Shooting 1 IED

SOURCES

Anadolu Agency, "7 militants 'neutralize in Northern Iraq," 1/6/19

Baghdad Post, "3 mortar shells landed northeast of Diyala," 1/1/19

- "Aborted the bombing of a car bomb in Hit district of Anbar," 1/5/19

Iraq Newspaper, "Attack Of Daash Terrorists Targets The Headquarters Of The 51st Brigade Of Mishan Jabouri And The Families And Wounded Members," 1/5/19

- "Dash Terrorists Announce Two Attacks In Kirkuk And Fallujah," 1/2/19

- "The Terrorists Broadcast A Video About The Storming Of The Sabahi Police Station In Khanaqin On Twitter," 1/5/19

- "A Terrorist Supporter Executed 3 Brothers In Their Home In Badush In Mosul And In Front Of Their Families," 1/3/19

Al Maalomah, "An associate was wounded form the crowd in an armed attack west Anbar," 1/1/19

NINA, “A local source warns of Daesh activity in targeting the villages of South Buhrez in Diyala,” 1/1/19

- “Source: Daesh Activity Hinders Growth Of The Agricultural Sector In The Largest Agricultural Basin Northeast Of Baquba,” 1/5/19

Al Sumaria, "A security force frees three out of four people kidnapped in Salahaddin," 1/6/19