Security In Iraq Jun 8-14, 2019

(Iraqi News)

Security remained stable from the first to the second week of June in Iraq. There was no real change in the number of security incidents. However, two of the major Iraqi media outlets that cover security have gone off line and the news has stopped reporting on the Islamic State burning farms. That means there are probably more incidents than were reported so far in June. That is likely as the Islamic State has just begun its annual spring-summer offensive Revenge of the Levant.

There was a total of 25 incidents reported in Iraq from June 8-14. That was basically the same as the 26 reported the week before. Diyala with 9 incidents had the most of the six provinces with violence.

Security Incidents In Iraq By Province

Province	Jun 1-7	Jun 8-14
Anbar	8	1
Babil	1	-
Baghdad	3	4
Diyala	7	9
Kirkuk	3	5
Ninewa	4	2
Salahaddin	-	4
TOTALS	26	25

Casualties In Iraq By Province

Province	Jun 1-7	Jun 8-14
Anbar	7 (1K, 6W)	1 (1W)
Babil	-	-
Baghdad	28 (9K, 19W)	1 (1K)
Diyala	9 (6K, 3W)	5 (2K, 3W)
Kirkuk	10 (2K, 8W)	8 (5K, 3W)
Ninewa	9 (1K, 8W)	24 (20K, 4W)
Salahaddin	-	5 (1K, 4W)
TOTALS	63 (19K, 44W)	44 (29K, 15W)

There were 44 casualties during the week, down from 63 the week before. 19 bodies were found in a mass grave in a town in Ninewa, victims of when the Islamic State ruled the area. 1 Hashd al-Shaabi, 3 Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), and 25 civilians died and 1 civilian, 4 Hashd, and 10 ISF were wounded from June 8-14.

As a sign of IS’s new campaign it released a video threatening people who worked with the government. It showed a man going through a computer file allegedly listing collaborators who would be targeted by the group. Already, the militants are publishing videos nearly every week showing it executing people including members of the security forces, mukhtars, and regular citizens. The Islamic State has done this before to intimidate and threaten the population, and is another sign that the organization is moving into another stage of its rebuilding in Iraq.

There was only one incident in Anbar. That was when a policeman was wounded when an IED hit his house in the Baghdadi district in the center of the province. Attacks have fluctuated up and down in the governorate over the last several months. Even though there was only one incident this week, there have been more attacks in June than May so far.

The Islamic State is trying to return to Baghdad. There were four incidents total. That included a report that a mortar or rocket hit the Karrada district, which is in the center of the city. This would be the first time the heart of the city had been hit in months. There have been seven attacks so far in the first two weeks of June compared to 10 in May.

Diyala, Kirkuk, Ninewa and Salahaddin are where most security incidents occur. In Diyala there were 9 incidents. That included a gun battle with the security forces in the Sadiya district in the northeast, two suicide bombers were killed in the center and east, and two IS members were arrested for threatening farmers that their fields would be burned unless they paid taxes to the group. Diyala is regularly the most violent province in Iraq because that’s where IS has spent the longest time converting back to an insurgency. Local politicians are always calling for the government to do more. During the week parliamentarians from Diyala held a press conference calling for more Iraqi forces to be deployed there. There was another shoot out with the militants in Kirkuk. Iraqi security analyst Hisham al-Hashimi told the press that there were 116 abandoned villages in south Kirkuk and north and east Diyala, which IS was exploiting. A farm was burned in the Tal Afar district in west Ninewa. When a local Hashd group responded they were hit by an IED a tactic IS has been using recently. This was the only field burning blamed on the insurgents during the week. IS was likely responsible for several more, but they were not reported. Finally, in Salahaddin there were four incidents including a mukhtar’s house being hit by an IED, and then another going off when the Iraqi forces responded. Balad Air Base was also hit by a mortar. Balad is where the Iraqi air force has its F-16 fighters. This range of attacks highlights the major activities of IS as it rebuilds. It is challenging the local security forces. It is intimidating the residents in rural areas, attacking their mayors, threatening them into paying taxes so the organization can put its finances back together, and driving people out of more and more towns so those areas can be converted into bases. This is a major goal of IS because it has to train its new cadres after its massive losses during its defeats in Syria and Iraq. The government has not adequately responded to this growing threat as local politicians and parliamentarians are constantly complaining. That’s because the Mahdi government has no security, rebuilding or reconciliation policy in the post-conflict regions of Iraq. This is not a priority and is allowing IS to make a comeback much faster than the last time.

Islamic State Activity in Iraq 2018-19

Anbar	Shootings (Totals)	IEDs/ Sticky Bombs (Totals)	Gun Battles	Attacks on Checkpoints	Attacks on Mukhtars/ Sheikhs	Kidnappings	Suicide Bombers	Car Bombs
2018 Totals	45	67	13	4	6	5	7	3
Jan 2019	6	4	1	-	2	1	1	1
Feb	10	11	4	1	1	4	-	-
Mar	2	1	-	-	-	-	-	-
Apr	1	8	1	-	-	1	-	1
May	3	3	-	-	1	-	-	2
Jun	5	2	4	-	-	-	-	-
2019 Totals	27	29	10	1	4	6	1	4

Diyala	Shootings (Totals)	IEDs/ Sticky Bombs (Totals)	Gun Battles	Attacks on Checkpoints	Attacks on Mukhtars/ Sheikhs	Kidnappings	Attacks on Towns	Suicide Bombers	Car Bombs
2018 Totals	219	198	47	43	5	13	25	3	1
Jan 2019	21	2	3	8	-	-	1	-	-
Feb	18	2	5	7	-	-	3	-	-
Mar	7	6	1	2	-	-	-	-	-
Apr	13	15	2	4	1	-	1	-	-
May	11	13	3	5	-	-	13 (9 Farms Burned)	-	-
Jun	10	6	1	2	-	1	-	-	-
2019 Totals	80	44	15	28	1	1	18	-	-

Kirkuk	Shootings (Totals)	IEDs/ Sticky Bombs (Totals)	Gun Battles	Attacks on Checkpoints	Attacks on Mukhtars/ Sheikhs	Kidnappings	Attacks on Towns	Suicide Bombers	Car Bombs
2018 Totals	172	182	39	18	10	14	29	9	6
Jan 2019	8	17	-	4	2	3	-	-	1
Feb	9	5	3	-	-	2	1	-	-
Mar	5	11	2	1	2	-	2	-	-
Apr	5	9	3	-	-	-	-	-	-
May	11	18	2	3	1	-	13 (13 Farms Burned)	-	-
Jun	3	5	1	1	-	-	-	-	-
2019 Totals	41	65	11	9	5	5	16	-	1

Ninewa	Shootings (Totals)	IEDs/ Sticky Bombs (Totals)	Gun Battles	Attacks on Checkpoints	Attacks on Mukhtars/ Sheikhs	Kidnappings	Attacks on Towns	Suicide Bombers	Car Bombs
2018 Totals	139	74	43	7	5	6	6	2	3
Jan 2019	6	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-
Feb	8	3	2	2	-	-	1	-	1
Mar	6	1	3	-	-	-	1	-	1
Apr	6	6	1	-	1	2	2	-	-
May	8	8	1	-	1	2	6 (5 Farms Burned)	-	1
Jun	1	3	-	-	-	-	3 (3 Farms Burned)	-	-
2019 Totals	35	21	7	2	3	4	13	-	3

Salahaddin	Shootings (Totals)	IEDs/ Sticky Bombs (Totals)	Gun Battles	Attacks on Checkpoints	Attacks on Mukhtars/ Sheikhs	Kidnappings	Attacks on Towns	Suicide Bombers	Car Bombs
2018 Totals	110	102	41	18	1	16	4	9	5
Jan 2019	5	5	3	1	-	3	-	-	1
Feb	7	11	3	-	-	2	1	1	-
Mar	3	5	2	-	-	-	-	-	1
Apr	2	2	1	-	-	-	-	-	1
May	9	8	4	1	1	-	6 (5 Farms Burned)	-	-
2019 Totals	26	31	13	2	1	5	7	1	3

(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
Jan	1 (1 – Anbar)	3 (1 – Anbar 1 – Kirkuk 1 – Salahaddin/Tikrit)	4
Feb	1 (1 – Salahaddin)	1 (1 – Ninewa/Mosul)	2
Mar	-	1 (1 – Ninewa/Mosul)	1
Apr	-	2 (1 – Anbar 1 - Salahaddin)	2
May	1 (1 – Baghdad)	3 (2 – Anbar 1 – Ninewa)	4

Security In Iraq 2018-19

Week	Security Incidents (Total/By IS)	Dead (Total/By IS)	Wounded (Total/By IS)
Jan 1-7	62/60	45	63
Jan 8-14	58/56	58/56	66/63
Jan 15-21	62/59	151	151
Jan 22-28	59/51	140/136	65/63
Jan 29-31	24	21	21
JAN 2018	265/ 250 by IS	417/ 409 by IS (196 Violent Deaths)	366/ 361 by IS
Feb 1-7	58/56	192/141	62/60
Feb 8-14	57	58	91
Feb 15-21	53/52	343	43
Feb 22-28	46/44	38/37	70/68
FEB	214/ 209 by IS	631/ 579 by IS (215 Violent Deaths)	266/ 262 by IS
Mar 1-7	68/64	115/108	79/77
Mar 8-14	52	75	59
Mar 15-21	64/59	165/119	98
Mar 22-28	77/64	210/87	61/60
Mar 29-31	19/18	26/25	34
MAR	280/ 257 by IS	591/ 414 by IS (446 Violent Deaths)	331/ 328 by IS
Apr 1-7	38/34	172/140	27/25
Apr 8-14	60/52	173/136	81/72
Apr 15-21	43/35	63/18	72/70
Apr 22-28	40/31	60/30	39/33
Apr 29-30	12/11	14/11	4
APR	193/ 163 by IS	482/ 335 by IS (236 Violent Deaths)	223/ 204 by IS
May 1-7	45/39	52/43	55/54
May 8-14	55/51	68/46	49
May 15-21	35/32	55/26	80/75
May 22-28	49/46	72/62	51/49
May 29-31	16/13	39/30	15
MAY	200/ 181 by IS	286/ 207 by IS (261 Violent Deaths)	250/ 242 by IS
Jun 1-7	50/44	96/87	29/28
Jun 8-14	67/59	107/47	88
Jun 15-21	40/35	82/28	19
Jun 22-28	45/44	53/38	62
Jun 29-30	17/15	21/16	14
JUN	219/ 197 by IS	359/ 216 by IS (315 Violent Deaths)	212/ 211 by IS
Jul 1-7	50/49	56/52	90
Jul 8-14	42/39	56/47	31
Jul 15-21	50/45	59/42	63
Jul 22-28	29/24	61/53	19/15
Jul 29-31	23/21	25/13	11
JUL	194/ 178 by IS	257/ 207 by IS (212 Violent Deaths)	214/ 210 by IS
Aug 1-7	43/39	49/45	30/29
Aug 8-14	43/42	38	44
Aug 15-21	38/35	24/21	40/37
Aug 22-28	35/31	25/19	61
Aug 29-31	27/24	68/30	43
AUG	186/ 171 by IS	204/ 153 by IS (189 Violent Deaths)	218/ 214 by IS
Sep 1-7	38	44	54
Sep 8-14	48/43	63/55	127
Sep 15-21	44/38	90/74	70
Sep 22-28	36/33	22/17	27/26
Sep 29-30	9/6	19/10	29/25
SEP	175/ 158 by IS	237/ 200 by IS (179 Violent Deaths)	307/ 302 by IS
Oct 1-7	54/49	85/25	92
Oct 8-14	43/41	161/152	41
Oct 15-21	54/50	87/72	35
Oct 22-28	24/23	24/20	53
Oct 29-31	23	10	24
OCT	198/ 186 by IS	367/ 279 by IS (177 Violent Deaths)	245 by IS
Nov 1-7	32/31	75/69	36
Nov 8-14	39/31	111/63	19
Nov 15-21	30/27	51/43	29
Nov 22-28	26/21	35/25	30
Nov 29-30	9/8	4	27
NOV	136/ 118 by IS	276/ 204 by IS (183 Violent Deaths_	141 by IS
Dec 1-7	22/15	21/8	11
Dec 8-14	22	15	22
Dec 15-21	23/21	23/16	17
Dec 22-28	30/28	24/18	37
Dec 29-31	15/14	225/220	4
DEC	112/ 100 by IS	308/ 277 by IS (96 Violent Deaths)	91 by IS
Jan 1-7	32/31	17/10	24
Jan 8-14	32/30	97/94	53
Jan 15-21	22/18	17/11	16/14
Jan 22-28	27/22	36/17	31
Jan 29-31	12	7	6
JAN	114	139	130
Feb 1-7	29/28	76	30
Feb 8-14	24	26	18
Feb 15-21	40	112	12
Feb 22-28	25	36	70
FEB	118	250	130
Mar 1-7	13	22	45
Mar 8-14	19/18	75/10	37
Mar 15-21	12/11	66/37	21/11
Mar 22-28	13/12	8/5	1
Mar 29-31	6	8	7
MAR	61	147	101
Apr 1-7	20	22	13
Apr 8-14	41	28	42
Apr 15-21	17/16	9/8	26
Apr 22-28	19/18	45/10	15
Apr 29-30	2	1	4
APR	99	105	100
May 1-7	18/17	9	17
May 8-14	24	31	41
May 15-21	37/36	62	39
May 22-28	43	39	54
May 29-31	13	16	48
MAY	136/135	162	199
Jun 1-7	26	19	44
Jun 8-14	25	29/10	15

Violence By Province Jun 8-14, 2019

Province	Violence
Anbar	1 Incident 1 Wounded 1 ISF 1 IED
Baghdad	4 Incidents 1 Killed 1 Civilian 1 Shooting 2 IEDs 1 Mortar
Diyala	9 Incidents 2 Killed 1 Civilian 1 ISF 3 Wounded 1 Civilian 2 ISF 4 Shootings 4 IEDs 1 Mortar 2 Suicide Bombers Killed
Kirkuk	5 Incidents 5 Killed 2 ISF 3 Civilians 3 Wounded 3 ISF 2 Shootings 3 IEDs
Ninewa	2 Incidents 20 Killed 1 Hashd 19 Civilians 4 Wounded 4 Hashd 1 IED 1 Farm Burned
Salahaddin	4 Incidents 1 Killed 1 Civilian 4 Wounded 4 ISF 1 Shooting 2 IEDs 1 Mortar

SOURCES

Al Alam, "A mortar shell landed in Baghdad's Karrada district," 6/14/19

Bas News, "A mass grave was found west of Mosul, most of whose victims were women," 6/11/19

Al Forat, “URGENT Arrest of accused of collecting royalties for Daish in Diyala,” 6/13/19

Iraq Newspaper, "The Daesh Terrorists Burn Agricultural Crops In Tal Afar And Kill And Injure 5 Of The Popular Crowd," 6/9/19

- "Targeting The House Of Mukhtar, The Star Of The Street And Wounding A Colonel And 4 Police In The Area Of Mutasim In Samarra," 6/14/19

Al Mada, “Diyala MPs call on Abdul Mahdi to send additional military reinforcements,” 6/11/19

Shafaaq News, “Daash threatens the Sunnis of Iraq with murder and reviews the list of names,” 6/13/19

- “The discovery of 116 abandoned villages in two provinces constitute attraction for Daash,” 6/10/19

- "Security forces clashed with Daash and kill two members of the organization southwest of Kirkuk," 6/12/19

Al Sumaria, "A policeman was injured in a blast at his home in al-Baghdadi district," 6/8/19

- "Security media announces the fall of three mortar shells on the base of Balad," 6/14/19