Security In Iraq Aug 1-7, 2020

Violence remained very low for the ninth straight week in Iraq. This regularly happens. The Islamic State launches one or two offensives a year and then attacks dramatically drop off afterward. This is currently the lull after a Spring campaign by the insurgents. At the same time the militants are in a war of attrition against the security forces in the rural areas they operate in. Pro-Iran groups are also keeping up a steady rate of attacks upon U.S. targets in the country.

 

There were ten total incidents reported in the media in Iraq during the first week of August. Half of those were by pro-Iran groups that fired rockets at the Green Zone, Camp Taji and also accidentally on two neighborhoods all in Baghdad, plus there was another IED attack upon a convoy carrying supplies to U.S. forces this time in Dhi Qar. That left just 5 incidents by the Islamic State, probably the lowest figure for any week since 2003.

 

Incidents were spread across Dhi Qar, Diyala, Kirkuk, Ninewa with 1 each, 2 in Salahaddin, and 4 in Baghdad.

 

7 people died and 10 were wounded. There were all from the security forces. This is part of the on-going war of attrition by the insurgency against the government’s forces. Before civilians were always the main victims, but since the fall it has been the police, army and Hashd al-Shaabi that have been suffering the most losses. IS is attempting to assert its dominance over the rural areas it operates in. There were 6 casualties in Diyala and 11 in Salahaddin.

 

For the second week in a row there was only one incident in Diyala. That came when an army base was hit by mortar fire and then assaulted that left 2 soldiers dead and 4 wounded. That was the boldest attack this year in the province. It’s still surprising that incidents have been low recently since Diyala is the center of IS in Iraq. Usually it has the most attacks of any governorate.

 

There was also only one incident in Kirkuk. That was a sticky bomb which was found and dismantled in Kirkuk city.

 

The same thing could be said for Ninewa. An IED went off in the Sinjar district in the west. That was likely an old device that might have went off with the when displaced returned to the area. There was also a security sweep through the province.

 

Finally, there were two incidents in Salahaddin. First there was a gun battle in the Samarra district with an police unit that left 2 officers dead and 4 injured. There was also an attack in Metebija in the east that resulted in the death of 3 soldiers and 2 others wounded. Government forces also went through east Samarra during the week.

 

Security Incidents In Iraq By Province

Province	Aug 1-7
Baghdad	4 Pro-Iran
Dhi Qar	1 Pro-Iran
Diyala	1
Kirkuk	1
Ninewa	1
Salahaddin	2
TOTAL	10/5

 

Casualties In Iraq By Province

Province	Jul 1-7
Diyala	6 (2K, 4W)
Salahaddin	11 (5K, 6W)
TOTAL	17 (7K, 10W)

 

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	38	18	8	9	1	5	17	-	-
Jun	13	1	-	2	-	1	2	-	-
Jul	10	10	1	2	-	-	2	-	-
Aug	1	-	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
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	15	10	1	7	1	4	10	-	-
Jun	5	2	1	1	-	1	1	-	-
Aug	-	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
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	5	9	-	2	-	-	2	-	-
Jun	-	5	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Jul	-	1	-	1	-	-	-	-	-
Aug	-	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	21	6	9	5	-	2	2	-	-
Jun	5	4	1	2	-	-	1	-	-
Jul	4	5	1	1	1	-	-	-	-
Aug	2	-	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
May 15-21	66/1	45	64
May 22-28	30	9	21
May 29-31	7	3	12
MAY	196/2	125	180
Jun 1-7	17	13	19
Jun 8-14	16/4	10	15
Jun 15-21	16/3	11	19
Jun 22-28	10/1	8	13
Jun 29-30	1	4	2
JUN	60/8	46	68
Jul 1-7	12/2	3	9
Jul 8-14	16/2	15	15
Jul 15-21	19/1	17	28
Jul 22-28	13/5	9	8
Jul 29-31	13/2	3	7
JUL	73/12	47	67
Aug 1-7	10/4	7	10

 

Violence By Province Aug 1-7, 2020

Province	Violence
Baghdad	4 Pro-Iran   4 Rockets
Dhi Qar	1 Pro-Iran   1 IED
Diyala	1 Incident 2 Killed 2 ISF 4 Wounded 4 ISF   1 Shooting 1 Mortar
Kirkuk	1 Incident   1 Sticky bomb
Ninewa	1 Incident   1 IED
Salahaddin	2 Incidents 5 Killed 5 ISF 6 Wounded 6 ISF   2 Shootings

 

SOURCES

 

Baghdad Post, "An explosion rocks the center of Sinjar district, a stronghold of the Yazidi Kurds, without casualties," 8/3/20

- "Killing and wounding 6 members of the federal police following an ISIS attack north of Samarra," 8/1/20

 

Al Maalomah, "The army forces thwart an attack by ISIS on a security station, near Khanaqin, Diyala," 8/6/20

 

NINA, "2 Katyusha Rockets Hit Al-Mashahada Area, North Of Baghdad," 8/3/20

-"3 Soldiers martyred In A Terrorist Attack In Matabija Area Of Samarra," 8/5/20

- "Joint Security Operation Launched To Track ISIS Cells Southwest Of Nineveh," 8/6/20

NI-"The PMF Carries Out A Raid And Search Operation In Eastern Samarra," 8/7/20

- "A Sticky Bomb Defused In Kirkuk," 8/1/20

- "Three soldiers were killed and wounded in an ISIS attack northeast of Baquba," 8/7/20

 

Al Noor, "An Explosive Device Targeting A Truck Carrying Equipment For The American Army In Nasiriya," 8/4/20

 

NRT, "Katyusha Rocket Fired Toward Green Zone In Baghdad: Security Media Cell," 8/5/20

 

Shafaaq News, "Targeting a camp near Baghdad with two Katyusha rockets," 8/3/20

 

Al Sumaria, "Killing and wounding five soldiers with an armed attack in Salahaddin," 8/5/20

 

Xinhua, "2 soldiers killed, 4 injured in IS attack in eastern Iraq," 8/7/20