Security In Iraq Oct 15-21, 2020

After a dip in attacks during the second week of October they shot back up to the highest level in two months the following week. All of the security incidents but one were by the Islamic State as pro-Iran groups halted their attacks on western targets after announcing a truce. At the same time Asaib Ahl al-Haq was accused of kidnapping and murdering a group of men in Salahaddin.

 

There were 30 security incidents reported in Iraq from October 15-21. 29 of those were by the Islamic State, the highest amount since the last week of August. The week before there were 13 incidents by IS and 14 the first week of October.

 

Those attacks were spread across Anbar (1), Baghdad (1), Babil (2), Irbil (2), Salahaddin (2), Ninewa (3), Diyala (8), and Kirkuk (10).

 

25 people died and 26 were wounded during the week. That was made up of 3 Hashd al-Shaabi and 22 civilians that lost their lives and 5 Hashd, 6 Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and 15 civilians that were injured. Salahaddin had the most casualties with 14 followed by 10 in Diyala.

 

On October 17 twelve men were kidnapped from Farahat in the Balad district of Salahaddin. Later 8 of their bodies were found. Asaib Ahl Al-Haq (AAH) were immediately blamed for the incident. This caused a huge controversy in the governorate with officials demanding that the Hashd withdraw as a result. This is the first time AAH has done something like this for quite some time. It was another example of how the government does not control the forces nominally under its command and they feel like a power onto themselves.

 

IS carried out small operations in Anbar, Babil, Baghdad, Irbil, Salahaddin, and Ninewa. There was a shooting in Garma in western Anbar that left two wounded. That province has few incidents because it’s mostly used for smuggling. 2 IEDs went off in Babil, one in Jurf al-Sakhr in the northeast and one in Hilla in the north. The later was aimed at a parliamentarian from the Hikma list which killed his nephew. These were the first IS incidents in the province in almost a month. There was a rare attack upon a village in the western Abu Ghraib district of Baghdad that left 3 wounded. Incidents in the capital are usually just shootings or IEDs. An assault on a town was a major operation more often seen in places like Diyala or Kirkuk. Two IEDs exploded in the Makhmour district of southern Irbil. That is one of the disputed territories IS has tried to exploit this year. There are usually only incidents there during insurgent offensives. It looked like the militants were starting one of those this fall but now it just looks like they have picked up their attacks from a temporary low from July to August. Besides the Asaib Ahl Al-Haq incident there was a gun battle with the Hashd and an army convoy was hit by a bomb in Salahaddin. Attacks have constantly fluctuated up and down there. Finally, a checkpoint was attacked and there were two IEDs in Ninewa. Like Anbar, there are usually few incidents in Ninewa because it’s a logistics rather than operational center for the Islamic State.

 

For the second week Diyala did not see the most violence in the country. There were four IEDs, three more destroyed, a shooting, and a village was hit by mortars. The biggest incident was at the end of the week when IS set up a fake checkpoint in the Khanaqin district in the northeast, killed three people and kidnapped two more. Half of the incidents this week were in Muqdadiya in the center. Diyala is the insurgent’s main base in the country.

 

After no incidents the second week of October there were 10 the next week in Kirkuk. Three villages were attacked during the week that included burning cars and houses. A Hashd brigade commander was killed and a police regiment commander was wounded as well. This was part of IS’s war of attrition against the security forces which has targeted officers. The attacks on the towns could also point to the insurgency attempting to assert its control over rural southern Kirkuk as it has done in regions of Diyala.

 

Security Incidents In Iraq By Province

Province	Oct 1-7	Oct 8-14	Oct 15-21
Anbar	1	1	1
Babil	1 Pro-Iran	-	2
Baghdad	3/ 2 Pro-Iran	2	1
Dhi Qar	1 Pro-Iran	-	-
Diwaniya	1 Pro-Iran	-	-
Diyala	6	3	8
Irbil	-	-	2
Kirkuk	4	-	10
Muthanna		1 Pro-Iran	-
Ninewa	1	5	3
Salahaddin	1	2	3/ 1 Pro-Iran
TOTAL	19/ 5 Pro-Iran	14/ 1 Pro-Iran	30/ 1 Pro-Iran

 

Casualties In Iraq By Province

Province	Oct 1-7	Oct 8-14	Oct 15-21
Anbar	5 (5W)	1 (1K)	2 (2W)
Babil	-	-	2 (1K, 1W)
Baghdad	-	2 (1K, 1W)	3 (3W)
Diyala	4 (4W)	3 (2K, 1W)	10 (6K, 4W)
Irbil	-	-	6 (4K, 2W)
Kirkuk	11 (8K, 3W)	-	8 (4K, 4W)
Ninewa	1 (1K)	11 (3K, 8W)	6 (2K, 4W)
Salahaddin	-	1 (1K)	14 (8K, 6W)
TOTAL	21 (9K, 12W)	18 (8K, 10W)	51 (25K, 26W)

 

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	16	5	2	7	-	3	3	-	-
Sep	21	8	2	3	-	-	6	-	-
Oct	8	6	-	2	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	5	5	1	-	-	-	3	-	-
Sep	9	5	2	2	-	2	2	3	-
Oct	6	6	1	-	3	-	-	-	-

 

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	-	12	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Sep	5	7	1	-	-	-	-	-	-
Oct	4	5	-	1	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	6	3	3	1	-	-	-	-	-
Sep	6	10	3	1	-	-	-	-	-
Oct	3	1	2	-	-	-	-	-	-

           

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
Aug 8-14	19/8	7	22
Aug 15-21	14/5	13	20
Aug 22-28	32/3	23	41
Aug 29-31	13/3	4	12
AUG	88/24	54	105
Sep 1-7	19/4	13	26
Sep 8-14	27/6	8	29
Sep 15-21	32/10	12	14
Sep 22-28	28/7	19	11
Sep 29-30	6/3	1	6
SEP	113/31	53	86
Oct 1-7	19/5	9	12
Oct 8-14	14/1	8	10
Oct 15-21	30/1	25	26

 

Violence By Province Oct 15-21 2020

Province	Violence
Anbar	1 Incident 2 Wounded 2 Civilians   1 Shooting
Babil	2 Incidents 1 Killed 1 Civilian 1 Wounded 1 Hashd   1 Shooting 1 IED
Baghdad	1 Incident 3 Wounded 3 Civilians   1 Shooting
Diyala	8 Incidents 6 Killed 6 Civilians 4 Wounded 4 Civilians   2 Shootings 6 IEDs 1 Mortar
Irbil	2 Incidents 4 Killed 4 Civilians 2 Wounded 2 Civilians   2 IEDs
Kirkuk	10 Incidents 4 Killed 1 Hashd 3 Civilians 4 Wounded 2 Civilians 2 ISF   4 Shootings 3 IEDs 1 Motorcycle Bomb Defused 1 Suicide Bomber Killed
Ninewa	3 Incidents 2 Killed 2 Hashd 4 Wounded 2 Civilians 2 ISF   1 Shooting 2 IEDs
Salahaddin	3 Incidents 8 Killed 8 Civilians 6 Wounded 2 ISF 4 Hashd   1 Shooting 1 IED

 

SOURCES

 

Bas News, "IED Blast Hits Kirkuk, Second Bombing Thwarted," 10/19/20

- “IS Attacks Village in Kirkuk, Burns Houses and Vehicles," 10/19/20

- "IS Militants Killed While Planting Bomb in Kirkuk," 10/20/20

- "Tuz Khurmatu: Roadside Bomb Hits Iraqi Army Convoy," 10/20/20

 

Iraq Newspaper, "ISIS terrorist kills the Shiite Ibn Mushatt the commander of the first regiment, second brigade, now in Kirkuk," 10/18/20

 

Al Maalomah, "A terrorist wearing an explosive belt was killed south of Kirkuk," 10/17/20

 

Mamouri, Ali, “Iraqi militias defy government, expand networks and pressure,” Al Monitor, 10/19/20

 

NINA, "2 Members Of The Tribal Mobilization Martyred At The Hands Of ISIS Gangs In Southeast Mosul," 10/18/20

- "2 Policemen Injured By An IED's Explosion, South Of Mosul," 10/19/20

- "5 People From One Family Killed And Wounded In An IED, Northeast Of Mosul," 10/20/20

- "A Civilian Wounded In An IED Explosion Northeast Of Baqubah, Diyala," 10/15/20

- "A Civilian Wounded In An IED Southeast of Mosul," 10/16/20

- "A farmer was injured in the explosion of an explosive device and the fall of mortar shells within the Sheikh Baba sector, northeast of Baqubah," 10/16/20

- "A farmer was killed in an explosive device explosion on the outskirts of Al-Abara district in Diyala," 10/15/20

- "MP for the Wisdom Movement Salem Tahmir survived an assassination attempt in western Hilla," 10/19/20

- "A Popular Mobilization fighter was wounded by an explosive device northwest of Hilla," 10/17/20

- "Thwarting a terrorist plot to target farmers in Al-Abara district, in Diyala," 10/16/20

- "Two civilians were wounded in an attack on a village northwest of Kirkuk," 10/17/20

- "Two civilians were injured in an explosive device explosion south of Mosul," 10/15/20

- "Unidentified Gunmen Assassinate A Coffee Shop's Owner Kanaan District, Diyala," 10/15/20

 

NRT, "Three Killed, Others Abducted At Fake Checkpoint On Jalawla-Khanaqin Road," 10/22/20

 

Rudaw, "Three young men killed in Kirkuk village," 10/19/20

 

Shafaaq News, "A boy was killed in an explosion in Diyala," 10/20/20

- "ISIS fake takeover signs 5 victims in Khanaqin," 10/21/20

- "A senior official and one of his bodyguards were injured in an explosion in Kirkuk," 10/18/20

- "Two wounded in an armed attack and the arrest of two brothers in Fallujah and Baghdad," 10/20/20

 

Al Sumaria, "Four members of the Popular Mobilization Forces were wounded after an attack by ISIS in Salahaddin," 10/17/20

- "Three civilians were wounded in an armed attack on a village, west of Baghdad," 10/20/20

- "Thwarting an attempt to blow up a popular market in Diyala," 10/15/20

 

Wali, Zhelwan, "Ten bodies discovered in Salahaddin a day after 12 Sunnis 'abducted': official," Rudaw, 10/17/20