Security In Iraq, May 8-14, 2020

Islamic State has returned to burning fields in Iraq this spring (Bas News)

The Islamic State launched a new campaign in Iraq in April, which has continued into May. Attacks have gone up nearly every week as a result.

During the second week of May there were 49 security incidents reported in the media. That was up from 44 the week before, but one of those was by a pro-Iran group. 49 attacks in one week hadn’t been seen since the third week of October 2018. 22 of those incidents occurred in Diyala, 6 in Salahaddin 5 each in Ninewa and Kirkuk, 4 in Anbar, and 3 each in Babil and Baghdad.

There was a total of 68 casualties during the week down from 83 the first week of May. 1 Peshmerga, 2 members of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), 7 Hashd al-Shaabi and 11 civilians were killed, along with 2 Hashd, 7 ISF and 38 civilians being wounded. In April and the first week of May the security forces accounted for the vast majority of casualties which was a decided change from previous IS attacks. The 2^nd week of May went back to civilians being the main victims. Diyala had the most casualties with 32 during the week.

Anbar, Babil and Baghdad are now of secondary concern to IS. There were 4 incidents in Anbar. That included a suicide bomber being discovered by the security forces who blew himself up in the Rutba district in the west towards Jordan, an attack upon civilians in Fallujah that left 3 dead and 4 wounded, and two infiltration attempts one along the Syrian border and the other in the south towards Najaf. Babil saw 3 incidents, which is above average. All took place in the Jurf al-Sakhr district as usual in the northeast including an attack upon a checkpoint, an infiltration attempt, and an attack upon the Hashd. Those resulted in 2 Hashd deaths and 1 wounded. Finally, there were 4 incidents in Baghdad with 3 IEDs and a sticky bomb explosion in one eastern and 3 southern sections of the province. Anbar used to be a main front for the insurgents, but today is mostly used to transfer men and material from Syria into Iraq as the head of the Haditha district pointed out. Babil is simply a target of opportunity as Jurf al-Sakhr is a Hashd base. The insurgents infiltrate fighters into the district about once a week to find targets. Finally, Baghdad was a major concern of the militants until the recent campaign. IS is currently a completely rural organization. To maintain its relevance and provide a threat to the government it must return to the cities. It launched two concerted efforts to move back into the capital, but during the new campaign it is concentrating upon its rural strongpoints.

Diyala is the main base for the Islamic State in Iraq with Kirkuk, Ninewa and Salahaddin being support areas. As usual Diyala witnessed the most attacks with 22. One checkpoint was attacked in the Muqaddam district in the center, there were two kidnappings of farmers in the Khanaqin district in the northeast, along with 3 gun battles and 5 fields being burned, four of which occurred in Khanaqin. The town of Mubarak also in Khanaqin was attacked and held for up to an hour before the insurgents left. Kirkuk had 5 incidents including the kidnapping of a sheikh and a sheikh’s son in two separate events, and a power tower was blown up. Ninewa witnessed 5 incidents as well made up of a shooting, some mortars being fired on a town, and three fields burned all in the Makhmour district in the south. Finally there were 6 incidents in Salahaddin. Recently IS has returned to the Tuz Kharmato district in the east and there were three incidents there during the week including a convoy hit by an IED and a farmer being kidnapped. A checkpoint was also attacked in the Baiji area and some infiltrators caught in the Samarra district. IS is becoming bolder in Diyala. On May 14 there were 7 incidents alone including the assault on Mubarak. The insurgents have access to every rural area of the governorate but have concentrated on the Jalawla-Khanaqin districts and Muqdadiya this month. In Kirkuk the militants are based in the south in the Hawija district were they were never routed from during the war. IS is back to burning fields in Diyala and southern Ninewa this spring, a tactic they began using last month. This is to both drive people out of these areas and force the remainder to pay taxes as well. Last, IS has returned to eastern Salahaddin as already noted. This was a favorite target before because of the divide between Arabs and Kurds there. It also has proximity to its bases in northern Diyala. The movement back to Tuz Kharmto also shows that the group is looking to expand once more marking another development in its rebuilding.

Security Incidents In Iraq By Province

Province	May 1-7	May 8-14
Anbar	4	4
Babil	1	3
Baghdad	2/1 Pro-Iran	4
Diyala	15	22
Irbil	1	-
Kirkuk	9	5
Ninewa	6	5
Salahaddin	6	6
TOTAL	44/1 Pro-Iran	49

Casualties In Iraq By Province

Province	May 1-7	May 8-14
Anbar	-	10 (3K, 7W)
Babil	1 (1W)	3 (2K, 1W)
Baghdad	-	10 (10W)
Diyala	47 (22K, 25W)	32 (13K, 19W)
Kirkuk	9 (8K, 1W)	1 (1W)
Ninewa	10 (6K, 4W)	4 (4W)
Salahaddin	15 (11K, 4W)	8 (3K, 5W)
TOTAL	83 (47K, 36W)	68 (21K, 47W)

Islamic State Activity in Iraq 2018-20

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
2019 Totals	185	112	33	63	2	6	29	2	-
Jan 2020	13	6	-	2	-	1	-	-	-
Feb	16	5	2	8	-	1	-	-	-
Mar	15	10	4	2	-	-	-	-	-
Apr	20	17	4	2	-	-	-	-	-
May	23	9	6	3	1	2	3	-	-

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
2019 Totals	77	116	24	19	6	8	18	-	1
Jan 2020	10	1	2	2	-	1	-	-	-
Feb	5	-	2	1	-	2	1	-	-
Mar	1	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-
Apr	17	7	6	3	-	2	1	1	-
May	6	9	-	4	-	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
2018 Totals	139	74	43	7	5	6	6	2	3
2019 Totals	63	49	14	3	9	6	17	-	3
Jan 2020	7	5	2	1	-	1	-	-	-
Feb	5	5	-	-	1	-	-	-	1
Mar	2	5	1	-	-	-	-	-	-
Apr	8	8	1	4	-	1	1	-	-
May	4	5	-	1	-	-	-	-	-

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
2019 Totals	60	54	32	5	2	6	8	2	6
Jan 2020	4	-	-	1	1	-	-	-	-
Feb	5	-	1	-	-	1	-	-	-
Mar	5	2	3	-	-	-	-	-	-
Apr	4	3	3	-	-	1	-	-	-
May	10	2	5	1	-	1	-	-	-

Security In Iraq 2019-20

Week	Security Incidents (Total/By IS)	Dead (Total/By IS)	Wounded (Total/By IS)
Jan 1-7	32	17/10	24
Jan 8-14	32	94/31	53
Jan 15-21	22	17/11	16/14
Jan 22-28	27	36/17	31
Jan 29-31	12	7	6
JAN 2019	114	139	130/128
Feb 1-7	29/1	76/16	30
Feb 8-14	24	26	18
Feb 15-21	40	112/37	12
Feb 22-28	25	36	70
FEB	118/1	250/115	130
Mar 1-7	13	22	45
Mar 8-14	19	75/10	37
Mar 15-21	12	66/37	21/11
Mar 22-28	13	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	9/8	26
Apr 22-28	19	45	15
Apr 29-30	2	1	4
APR	99	105	100
May 1-7	20	15	18
May 8-14	24	31	41
May 15-21	37/1	62/25	39
May 22-28	43	39	54
May 29-31	13	16	48
MAY	137/1	163/125	200
Jun 1-7	26	19	44
Jun 8-14	25/1	29	15
Jun 15-21	21/2	6	13/10
Jun 22-28	18	17	41
Jun 29-30	9	3	9
JUN	99/3	74	122/119
Jul 1-7	20	11	39
Jul 8-14	14	31	10
Jul 15-21	17	14	37
Jul 22-28	23	14	20
Jul 29-31	8	13	13
JUL	82	83	119
Aug 1-7	27	14	31
Aug 8-14	18	13	13
Aug 15-21	20	33	15
Aug 22-28	27	24	72
Aug 29-31	11	19	10
AUG	104	103	141
Sep 1-7	39	39	38
Sep 8-14	30	35	43
Sep 15-21	23	27	26
Sep 22-28	24/1	15	20
Sep 29-30	7	6	4
SEP	123/1	122	131
Oct 1-7	3	1	2
Oct 8-14	14	25	17
Oct 15-21	19	29	13
Oct 22-28	22/1	33	10
Oct 29-31	12/1	4	11
Oct	70/2	92	53
Nov 1-7	6/1	4	1
Nov 8-14	9/1	2	25
Nov 15-21	15/1	11	2
Nov 22-28	17/1	24	33
Nov 29-30	8/1	6	37
Nov	55/5	47	98
Dec 1-7	36/3	33	44
Dec 8-14	19/3	19	19
Dec 15-21	26	44	25
Dec 22-28	30/1	30	38
Dec 29-31	9	8	7
Dec	120/7	134	133
Jan 1-7	25/7	16	84
Jan 8-14	24/3	12	34
Jan 15-21	23/2	11	12
Jan 22-28	11/1	10	8
Jan 29-31	8/1	4	1
Jan 2020	91/12	53	139
Feb 1-7	22	13	11
Feb 8-14	18/1	5	38
Feb 15-21	16/2	42	18
Feb 22-28	25	15	34
Feb 29	4	5	2
Feb	85/3	80	103
Mar 1-7	17/3	11	17
Mar 8-14	15/2	13	33
Mar 15-21	14/2	5	19
Mar 22-28	14/1	13	11
Mar 29-31	9	5	10
Mar	69/8	47	90
Ap 1-7	27/1	27	37
Apr 8-14	24	25	51
Apr 15-21	33/1	19	34
Apr 22-28	22	8	40
Apr 29-30	5	2	4
Apr	111/2	81	165
May 1-7	44/1	47	36
May 8-14	49	21	47

Violence By Province May 8-14 2020

Province	Violence
Anbar	4 Incidents 3 Killed 3 Civilians 7 Wounded 7 Civilians 3 Shootings 1 Suicide Bomber Killed
Babil	3 Incidents 2 Killed 2 Hashd 1 Wounded 1 Hashd 3 Shootings
Baghdad	4 Incidents 10 Wounded 10 Civilians 3 IEDs 1 Sticky Bomb
Diyala	22 Incidents 13 Killed 1 Peshmerga 5 Hashd 7 Civilians 19 Wounded 1 Hashd 18 Civilians 13 Shootings 4 IEDs 1 Mortar 5 Fields Burned
Kirkuk	5 Incidents 1 Wounded 1 ISF 1 Shootings 3 IEDs
Ninewa	5 Incidents 4 Wounded 1 ISF 3 Civilians 1 Shooting 1 Mortar 3 Fields Burned
Salahaddin	6 Incidents 3 Killed 1 Civilian 2 ISF 5 Wounded 5 ISF 4 Shootings 1 IED

SOURCES

Al Alam, "The popular crowd thwarts infiltration of ISIS south of Samarra," 5/13/20

Baghdad Post, "A fighter wounded from the tribal crowd with sniper fire in eastern Diyala," 5/8/20

Bas News, "IS Attacks Iraqi Shia Militias near Khanaqin," 5/14/20

- "IS Kills Mosque Servant, Abducts Farmer in Disputed Kurdish Areas," 5/12/20

- "Khanaqin: Kurdish Civilian Dies after Suffering Injuries in IS Attack," 5/15/20

- "Khanaqin: More Wheat Farms Set on Fire," 5/14/20

- "Khanaqin: Two Kurdish Farmers Abducted," 5/10/20

- "Kirkuk: IS Detonates Transmission Tower to Cut Electricity in Dibis," 5/14/20

- "Separate IS Attacks Wound Seven Kurds in Disputed areas of Diyala," 5/13/20

- "Tribal Leader Abducted in South of Kirkuk," 5/8/20

- "Two Bomb Blasts Hit Kirkuk," 5/12/20

Al Maalomah, "The crowd saves a child whose parents had burned at the hands of ISIS in Khanaqin," 5/12/20

- "ISIS terrorist set fire to wheat fields in Jalawla, Diyala," 5/12/20

- "Killing and wounding 3 the outcome of the Mubarak attack in Diyala," 5/15/20

- "Mukhtar wounded in an agricultural village with sniper fire in Diyala," 5/14/20

- "Two Popular Mobilization fighters are killed in an explosion near Khanaqin," 5/12/20

Al Mada, “Daily pursuit of gunmen in Anbar desert coming from Syria,” 5/16/20

- “ISIS intensifies its attacks in the liberated areas and controls village for hours,” 5/16/20

- "The second ISIS attack on Jurf al-Nasr was thwarted," 5/11/20

Middle East Monitor, "Iraq: Daesh kills 5 security personnel, 3 civilians in Diyala, Saladin," 5/13/20

NINA, "The bodies of two civilians kidnapped last night were found near Khanaqin in Diyala," 5/11/20

- "A Civilian assassinated in the Saadiya district in Diyala," 5/10/20

- "An explosive device detonated under control in Muqdadiya, in Diyala," 5/10/20

- "ISIS elements burn wheat fields in a village of northeastern Baquba," 5/15/20

- "ISIS To Kidnap The Son of Al-Obeidi Clan," 5/11/20

- "A Member Of The Popular Mobilization Forces Martyred, North Of Babylon," 5/10/20

- "The popular crowd forces thwart and attack by ISIS on the Iraqi-Syrian border," 5/10/20

- "The popular crowd repels an ISIS attack in Salah al-Din," 5/8/20

- "The popular crowd thwarted a terrorist plot to target Al-Nukhaib area in Anbar," 5/10/20

- "The security forces killed a suicide bomber and raided a cache north of Rutba," 5/8/20

- "Security Media Cell: A soldier was hit by ISIS fire in Kirkuk," 5/13/20

- "Three civilians were wounded by a mortar shell south of Mosul,' 5/10/20

- "Thwarting an ISIS infiltration attempt in Wadi Al-Jund in Diyala," 5/8/20

- "Two employees of the Popular Mobilization killed and wounded, north of Babylon," 5/14/20

- "Two terrorists were killed and a member of the security forces was wounded in Atshana mountains in Mosul," 5/8/20

NRT, "Fire Destroys Farms In Makhmour, Second Such Fire In Three Days," 5/12/20

- "Four Police Officers Injured In ISIS Attack In Tuz Kharmatu," 5/10/20

- "Three People Killed In ISIS Attack In Anbar,' 5/13/20

Rudaw, "Armed clashes with ISIS after its attack on two villages in Khanaqin," 5/14/20

Shafaaq News, "Diyala: Wounded were reported by an ISIS operation against the civil defense forces,' 5/9/20

- "ISIS militants snip two civilians in Khanaqin," 5/14/20

- "ISIS snipers inflict 4 civilian casualties and crowd in Khanaqin," 5/11/20

Al Sumaria, "Five civilians were injured by three mortar shells in Diyala," 5/14/20

- "ISIS kidnapped two farmers and burned their agricultural crops in Khanaqin," 5/12/20

- "ISIS targets a checkpoint in Diyala," 5/11/20

- "Security fighter was killed and another was wounded by an ISIS attack on Siniya-Haditha road," 5/12/20

- "Three civilians were wounded by a bomb, southeast of Baghdad," 5/10/20

- "Three people were injured in a bomb explosion southwest of Baghdad," 5/10/20

- "Two civilians were wounded by an explosion in southern Baghdad," 5/10/20