Security In Iraq Jul 15-21 2019

(Shafaaq News)

Attacks in Iraq have returned to pre-Revenge of the Levant levels in July. That means they are back in the teens raising questions about the state of the Islamic State.

There were 17 incidents in Iraq from July 15-21. That compared to 13 the week before and 20 the week before that. When the annual spring-summer Revenge of the Levant campaign started in May attacks were around 20-30 attacks per week. That has steadily decreased in the last several weeks. The inability to sustain attacks during this campaign brings up questions about how the Islamic State’s rebuilding is going. The level of incidents were much higher last year at double to triple the current rate. The government recently launched a massive sweep through three provinces that might have disrupted the insurgents’ activities, but that couldn’t fully account for the low numbers as they have gone down in areas that were not searched by the Iraqi forces. Could IS be running into difficulties or is this simply a temporary lull? Only time will tell.

Security Incidents In Iraq By Province

Province	Jul 1-7	Jul 8-14	Jul 15-21
Anbar	3	-	-
Babil	1	1	1
Baghdad	2	4	5
Diyala	8	4	5
Kirkuk	3	2	5
Ninewa	1	1	-
Salahaddin	2	1	1
TOTALS	20	13	17

Casualties In Iraq By Province

Province	Jul 1-7	Jul 8-14	Jul 15-21
Anbar	21 (7K, 14W)	-	-
Babil	4 (4W)	1 (1W)	1 (1K)
Baghdad	2 (2W)	3 (3K)	34 (9K, 25W)
Diyala	14 (3K, 11W)	9 (5K, 4W)	12 (1K, 11W)
Kirkuk	-	3 (2K, 1W)	2 (2K)
Ninewa	-	18 (18K)	-
Salahaddin	-	7 (3K, 4W)	2 (1K, 1W)
TOTALS	50 (10K, 40W)	41 (31K, 10W)	51 (14K, 37W)

There were 51 casualties during the week. That was made up of 1 Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), 1 Hashd al-Shaabi and 12 civilians losing their lives along with 2 ISF and 35 civilians that were injured. Baghdad with 34 dead and wounded led the country.

For the second week in a row there were no incidents in Anbar. This province was included in the government’s Will of Victory, which might account for no violence occurring.

IS is trying to inch back into the capital and finally made a splash during the third week of July. Two suicide bombers hit the town of Malif in the south killing 5 and wounding 20. A motorcycle bomb hit Sabi al-Bour in the north, and a car bomb was discovered in Niamiya in New Baghdad in the east. The last mass casualty bombing in the capital province was in May. Before that one hadn’t happened since May 2018. Now there were two attempts in one day. Getting a car bomb into east Baghdad was also significant because all the IS attacks are in the north, south and west. Despite the number of incidents going down in the rest of the country, if the insurgents can infiltrate back into Baghdad that would be a serious development. 

Diyala, Kirkuk, Ninewa and Salahaddin are where IS has developed camps and bases. There were no incidents in Ninewa however. In Diyala there were four IEDs and two mortar incidents. In Kirkuk, two people were kidnapped in the Riyad district and a village was attacked in the Rashad district and three more were hit by rockets all in the south. Finally, in Salahaddin there was a single IED in Dour outside of Tikrit. Only Salahaddin was included in the recent government sweep so it’s an open question as to why there have been so few incidents in these governorates. Usually doing security operations the militants simply shift to another area and continue on with their operations. Now there is a general decline across the country. Trends in violence can only be discerned over weeks and months so whether this is a short term drop or something else cannot be determined until more time passes.

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	7	2	4	-	1	-	-	-
Jul	2	-	-	1	-	-	-	-
2019 Totals	31	29	10	2	5	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	15	8	2	4	-	1	-	1	-
Jul	4	10	1	3	-	-	-	-	-
2019 Totals	89	56	17	33	1	1	18	1	-

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	5	10	1	2	-	-	-	-	-
Jul	1	9	-	-	-	1	1	-	-
2019 Totals	44	79	11	10	5	6	17	-	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	2	5	-	-	1	-	4 (4 Farms Burned)	-	-
July	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2019 Totals	36	24	7	2	4	4	14	-	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	10	9	4	1	1	-	6 (5 Farms Burned)	-	-
Jun	4	3	2	-	1	-	-	-	-
Jul	-	5	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2019 Totals	31	40	15	2	2	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
Jun	1 (1 – Diyala)	-	1
Jul	2 (2 – Baghdad/Malif)	-	2

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	130/128
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	20/19	15	18
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	137/136	163	200
Jun 1-7	26	19	44
Jun 8-14	25/24	29	15
Jun 15-21	21/16	6	13/10
Jun 22-28	18	17	41
Jun 29-30	9	3	9
JUN	99/93	74	122/119
Jul 1-7	20	11	39
Jul 8-14	14	31	10
Jul 15-21	17	14	37

Violence By Province Jul 15-21, 2019

Province	Violence
Babil	1 Incident 1 Killed 1 ISF 1 Shooting
Baghdad	5 Incidents 9 Killed 1 Hashd 8 Civilians 25 Wounded 25 Civilians 1 IED 1 Motorcycle Bomb 2 Suicide Bombers 1 Car Bomb Dismantled
Diyala	5 Incidents 1 Killed 1 Civilian 11 Wounded 2 ISF 9 Civilians 4 IEDs 2 Mortars
Kirkuk	5 Incidents 2 Killed 2 Civilians 1 Shooting 3 Rockets
Salahaddin	1 Incident 1 Killed 1 Civilian 1 Wounded 1 Civilian 1 IED

SOURCES

Ali, Sangar, "Explosions injure seven in Iraq's disputed Jalawla town," 7/18/19

Baghdad Post, "A child was injured when a bomb exploded northeast of Diyala," 7/19/19

Al Forat, "URGENT Death toll rises to 25," 7/15/19

- "URGENT: Eight people killed and wounded in a booby-trapped explosion in Sabi al-Bour," 7/15/19

Hath Al Youm, "Five mortar shells hit a village in Jalawla district of Diyala," 7/21/19

Iraq Newspaper, "Joint Operations Are Looking For Abductors Of The Village Of Mohammed Al-Danouk And The Terrorist Leader Issued A Statement On The Bombing Of Three Villages," 7/16/19

NINA, "2 Civilians Kidnapped In Kirkuk," 7/16/19

- "2 Civilians Killed By Daesh After Storming A Village South Of Kirkuk," 7/16/19

- "The explosion of an explosive device in the orchards of Diyala," 7/19/19

- "Three people were killed and 11 others wounded in a double suicide bombing southwest of Baghdad," 7/15/19

Rudaw, "ISIS claims responsibility for Baghdad suicide bombings killing 5," 7/17/19

Shafaaq News, "Four killed and injured in Diyala blast," 7/21/19

Al Sumaria, "At least four people were killed at least four wounded in a suicide bombing in southern Baghdad," 7/15/19

- "Car bomb was seized east of Baghdad," 7/15/19

Xinhua, "2 civilians killed, 4 wounded in separate IS attacks in Iraq," 7/21/19