Security In Iraq Nov 22-28, 2020

Violence in Iraq has fluctuated up and down the last three months. The fourth week of November 2020 was no different with attacks increasing from the week before.

 

There were 24 incidents reported in the media the fourth week of November in Iraq. Those took place across Irbil (1), Baghdad (1), Anbar (3), Diyala (3), Ninewa (4), Kirkuk (6) and Salahaddin (6). That was up from 19 the week before, but one of those was done by a pro-Iran group.

 

There were 11 deaths and 26 wounded during the week. 1 Hashd al-Shaabi, 3 civilians, 7 Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) were killed and 3 Hashd, 10 civilians, 13 ISF were injured. Anbar, Ninewa, and Salahaddin tied with 9 casualties followed by 5 in Kirkuk, 4 in Diyala and 1 in Babil.

 

Anbar saw a change in the types of attacks that usually occur there. First, the Islamic State set up a fake checkpoint in the Rutba district, killed three police, kidnapped three people and 1 was later found. Then a checkpoint was attacked in Garma in the east, and there was a final attack in the Nukhaib area the southeast by Saudi Arabia where 1 policeman was killed, 4 people were wounded and a mukhtar was kidnapped. Usually there are just shootings and IEDs in the province because IS uses the province for smuggling more than operations. The second week of November there was also a kidnapping and a checkpoint incident, so it needs to be seen whether this is a new trend or not.

 

In Taji, north Baghdad an Oil Ministry engineer was shot by a silenced gun. There are few incidents in the capital province but when they happen it’s usually like this one in an outer town in the north or south.

 

There were just three incidents in Diyala but two of them were in the Azim area in the northwest. Usually attacks are concentrated in the center in Muqdadiya and in the northeast in Khanaqin. Recently the group has been picking up its operations along the Diyala-Salahaddin border which could be an expansion of the area it’s looking to control.

 

In the Makhmour district of southern Irbil a soldier was shot and killed. This is a disputed area which the insurgents have been taking advantage of since the start of this year.

 

In Kirkuk, a checkpoint was hit, there was a kidnapping although the people were freed, a rocket was fired, and there were two shoot outs with the security forces. Five if the six attacks during the week were in the south where the militants were never expelled from, but one was in the northwest which was a rarity.

 

There were three IEDs and an infiltration attempt in Ninewa. The IEDs were all in the south where IS usually carries out attacks and then the infiltration came in the west as IS was trying to move men in from Syria.

 

Salahaddin saw a sniper, a police chief’s house shot at, a kidnapping and beheading, a gun battle, and two infiltration attempts. Six was the most attacks in the governorate since the third week of May.

 

Security Incidents In Iraq By Province

Province	Nov 1-7	Nov 8-14	Nov 15-21	Nov 22-28
Anbar	1	3	1	3
Babil	1	1	1	-
Baghdad	-	2	3/1 Pro-Iran	1
Diyala	5	8	3	3
Irbil	-	-	-	1
Kirkuk	1	5	3	6
Ninewa	3	2	4	4
Salahaddin	-	4	4	6
TOTAL	11	25	19/ 1 Pro-Iran	24

 

Casualties In Iraq By Province

Province	Nov 1-7	Nov 8-14	Nov 15-21	Nov 22-28
Anbar	1 (1K)	4 (1K, 3W)	1 (1K)	9 (4K, 5W)
Babil	2 (2W)	1 (1K)	2 (1K, 1W)	1 (1K)
Baghdad	-	20 (11K, 9W)	8 (3K, 8W)	-
Diyala	10 (4K, 6W)	13 (4K, 9W)	7 (7W)	4 (4W)
Kirkuk	1 (1K)	16 (5K, 11W)	1 (1K)	5 (5W)
Ninewa	3 (1K, 2W)	3 (3W)	2 (2K)	9 (2K, 7W)
Salahaddin	-	5 (1K, 4W)	22 (10K, 12W)	9 (4K, 5W)
TOTAL	17 (7K, 10W)	62 (23K, 39W)	43 (18K, 25W)	37 (11K, 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	17	11	1	2	2	1	2	-	-
Nov	13	6	1	4	-	-	2	-	-

 

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	8	7	1	1	-	-	3	-	-
Nov	9	2	3	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	5	9	-	2	-	-	2	-	-
Jun	-	5	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Jul	-	1	-	1	-	-	-	-	-
Aug	-	12	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Sep	5	7	1	-	-	-	-	-	-
Oct	4	5	-	1	1	-	-	-	-
Nov	4	7	-	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	6	3	3	-	-	-	1	-	-
Nov	12	3	3	-	-	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
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
Oct 22-28	25/1	16	24
Oct 29-31	5	4	5
OCT	93/8	62	77
Nov 1-7	11	7	10
Nov 8-14	25	23	39
Nov 15-21	19/1	18	25
Nov 22-28	24	11	26

 

Violence By Province Nov 22-28, 2020

Province	Violence
Anbar	3 Incidents 4 Killed 4 ISF 5 Wounded 5 Civilians   3 Shootings
Babil	1 Incident 1 Killed 1 ISF   1 Shooting
Baghdad	1 Incident   1 Shooting
Diyala	3 Incidents 4 Wounded 2 Civilians 2 ISF   3 Shootings
Kirkuk	6 Incidents 5 Wounded 5 ISF   3 Shootings 1 IED 1 Rockets
Ninewa	4 Incidents 2 Killed 1 Civilian 1 ISF 7 Wounded 3 Civilians 4 ISF   1 Shooting 3 IEDs
Salahaddin	6 Incidents 4 Killed 1 Hashd 1 ISF 2 Civilians 5 Wounded 2 ISF 3 Hashd   5 Shootings

 

SOURCES

 

Baghdad Post, "Gunmen set up fake checkpoint in Anbar, kill an affiliate, and kidnap three people" 11/23/20

 

Bas News, "Four Iraqi Soldiers Injured in IED Blast South of Kirkuk," 11/27/20

-IS Kills One Iraqi Soldier Outside Makhmour," 11/23/20

- "IS Militants Attack Police Colonel's Home in Salahaddin, Kill One," 11/25/20

 

Iraq Newspaper, "The District Commissioner confirms … that ISIS has taken control of the international road in Al-Rutba area near Al-Sakar, killing 3 police officers from Al-Rutba and kidnapping a fourth," 11/23/20

- "An ISIS terrorist sniper killers and injures four of the 52ns Brigade of the Turkmen Mobilization Forces of the Badr Corps led by Mahdi Taqi Al-Amerli in the village of Amerli," 11/23/20

 

Al Maalomah, "The army thwarted a terrorist attack on the border between Diyala and Salah al-Din," 11/26/20

- "A civilian was injured due to an armed attack on the security checkpoint, east of Fallujah," 11/24/20

- "A kidnapped person was released hours after he was kidnapped in a pre-emptive operation in western Anbar," 11/23/20

- "A police associate was killed in an armed attack west of Anbar," 11/23/20

- "A policeman was killed in a terrorist attack in the Al-Kasra neighborhood, southwest of Anbar," 11/28/20

- "The Popular Mobilization Forces addresses an infiltration of the ISIS terrorists in the Sijla district in Salahaddin Governorate," 11/28/20

- "The Popular Mobilization Forces thwarted a terrorist plot to target civilians in Salahaddin," 11/28/20

 

NINA, "2 Soldiers Wounded IN AN ISIS Attack On The Bolder Between Salah al-Din And Diyala," 11/24/20

- "The explosion of a bomb from the ISIS remnant, wounding a woman and her daughter, south of Mosul," 11/23/20

- "Five army personnel were killed and wounded when an explosive device exploded south of Mosul," 11/22/20

- "A force of the popular crowd liberates a citizen hours after ISIS kidnapped him in Kirkuk," 11/23/20

- "ISIS Attack Thwarted In Salah Al-Din Operations Sector," 11/25/20

- "A Katyusha missile fell in the vicinity of Al-Zab district, west of Kirkuk," 11/24/20

- "A Man And His Son Wounded By Unknown gunfire, East Of Baquba," 11/27/20

- "A number of security forces and civilians were killed and wounded in an armed attack in Salah al-Din," 11/24/20

- "A soldier wounded in an ISIS attack northwest of Kirkuk," 11/22/20

- "Two Civilians Killed And Wounded When An Explosive Device Went Off South Of Mosul," 11/28/20

- "Two attacks by ISIS terrorists foiled in southwestern Kirkuk," 11/28/20

 

Shafaaq News, "Using thermal cameras … Iraqi forces thwart the infiltration of two foreigners west Ninewa," 11/23/20

 

Al Sumaria, "An engineer in oil was injured in an armed attack north of Baghdad," 11/26/20

- "A policeman was killed and three civilians were wounded in an ISIS attack in al-Nukhaib," 11/28/20

 

Xinhua, "IS militants kill 2 villagers, policeman in Iraq," 11/29/20