Iraq’s Central Front Attacks Upon Baghdad Continue While ISIS Fights In Rest Of Country

 

Most of the attention on Iraq’s security situation right now is focused upon the fighting in Salahaddin, Anbar and Ninewa, and to a lesser extent Diyala and Kirkuk. Little has been said about the continued attacks upon Baghdad province. The ultimate goal of the insurgency is to reach the capital and overthrow the government. Right now the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) is the only group that has the capability to hit the central governorate. It has kept up a steady dose of shootings and bombings there showing that its networks continue to operate in Baghdad despite its commitments to other parts of the country.

Despite heavy fighting across central Iraq the Islamic State has been able to maintain its operating in Baghdad province. On June 6 ISIS and other insurgent groups launched its assault upon Mosul. After the fall of that city the militants charged across half of Salahaddin and western Kirkuk. Since then it has made more advances in Anbar and across western Ninewa, along with continued fighting in Diyala and northern Babil. None of that has stopped ISIS’s operations in Baghdad. The average number of attacks per day has not changed from the beginning of the year to June, and casualties are some of the highest seen so far this year. From June 1-21 there were an average of 7.5 attacks per day reported in the press, which compared to February’s 7.2, March’s 7.5, April’s 7.1, and May’s 7.8. The average number of dead was at 15.2 so far in June, which is the third highest of the year only behind May’s 15.9 and January’s 17.9. Likewise there have been 36.7 wounded per day in the first three weeks of June with only January’s 38.2 being higher. This has been caused by a steady stream of shootings, 2.3 per day, and bombings, 4.8 per day. Surprisingly these casualties have not ben the result of car bombs. There have been the same average number of those types of attacks at 0.8 in April, 0.9 in May, and 0.8 in June, but they have not been launched in the consistent waves as seen in previous periods. From June 1-23 vehicle born IEDs (VBIEDs) have been spread out with June 7 the only exception when there were 6 across Baghdad resulting in 23 killed and 91 injured. Otherwise there has only been one or two about every other day during the month. In previous months there were one to two days off and then a couple days of 1-3 car bombs followed by a huge number on one or two days before ramping down and repeating the pattern. The series of VBIEDs is the only change in violence in Baghdad governorate since fighting started in other parts of Iraq.

Violence In Baghdad Province 2014

Date	Attacks	Killed	Wounded	Shootings	Bombs	Car Bombs
Jan 1-7	57	105	181	28	30	5
Jan 8-14	56	145	297	22	29	9
Jan 15-21	67	170	383	16	49	24
Jan 22-28	56	89	185	21	32	6
Jan 29-31	15	48	141	4	15	5
Jan Total	251	557	1,187	91	155	49
Feb 1-7	59	133	300	18	40	24
Feb 8-14	45	48	121	20	25	4
Feb 15-21	49	71	199	19	30	7
Feb 22-28	51	111	231	24	28	3
Feb Total	204	363	851	81	123	38
Mar 1-7	68	114	284	21	47	10
Mar 8-14	41	46	130	5	27	5
Mar 15-21	48	102	244	10	38	8
Mar 22-27	47	83	208	17	32	6
Mar 28-31	29	40	81	8	21	2
Mar Total	233	385	947	61	165	31
Apr 1-7	61	69	123	26	33	-
Apr 8-14	48	87	212	16	31	12
Apr 15-21	61	131	289	11	37	8
Apr 22-28	37	120	264	14	23	4
Apr 29-30	8	17	36	1	4	-
Apr Total	215	424	924	68	128	24
May 1-7	42	49	63	25	15	-
May 8-14	88	171	329	31	48	18
May 15-21	56	100	187	24	31	3
May 22-28	45	159	404	13	33	8
May 29-31	13	14	37	1	10	1
May Total	244	493	1,020	93	137	30
Jun 1-7	58	114	288	18	34	11
Jun 8-14	54	100	242	22	34	3
Jun 15-21	47	106	242	9	34	3

Average Levels Of Violence Per Day In Baghdad 2014

Month	Attacks	Killed	Wounded	Shootings	Bombs	Car Bombs
Jan	8.0	17.9	38.2	2.9	5.0	1.5
Feb	7.2	12.9	30.3	2.8	4.3	1.3
Mar	7.5	12.4	30.5	1.9	5.3	1.0
Apr	7.1	14.1	30.8	2.2	4.2	0.8
May	7.8	15.9	32.9	3.0	4.4	0.9
Jun 1-21	7.5	15.2	36.7	2.3	4.8	0.8

Car Bombs In Baghdad June 1-23 2014

Date	Location	Dead	Wounded
Jun 1	-	-	-
Jun 2	Meshahda, Tarmiya	8	19
Jun 3	-	-	-
Jun 4	Sabi Bakr	4	12
Jun 5	Jamila, Shaab	5	15
Jun 6	-	-	-
Jun 7	Karrada, Sabi Bakr, Baya, New Baghdad, Amil, Ur	23	91
Jun 8	-	-	-
Jun 9	-	-	-
Jun 10	Ur	6	10
Jun 11	Kadhimiya	18	45
Jun 12	-	-	-
Jun 13	Tarmiya	3	7
Jun 14	-	-	-
Jun 15	Bab al-Sharqi	12	29
Jun 16	-	-	-
Jun 17	Sadr City	11	40
Jun 18	-	-	-
Jun 19	New Baghdad	2	8
Jun 20	-	-	-
Jun 21	-	-	-
Jun 22	-	-	-
Jun 23	-	-	-
Total	17	92	276

Insurgents also continue to infiltrate into the capital city. On June 16 for example Baghdad Operations Command (BOC) said that it had killed 56 ISIS members and wounded another 21 as they were trying to infiltrate from Anbar in the west, Babil in the south, and from the north as well. June 21 the Operations Command reported 10 dead militants who were trying to sneak into the capital or plant improvised explosive devices. Then on June 23 the BOC told the press that another 12 insurgents lost their lives in various outskirts of the capital province. ISIS’s charge from the north has been blunted in central Salahaddin, but the Islamic State has been building up its networks in the Baghdad Belts that surround the capital for months now. It is currently trying to move more people into the capital from Anbar in the west, Diyala in the east, and Babil in the south. Obviously the supply lines into and throughout Baghdad continue to operate with no slackening due to the current offensive as the security incident statistics show.

Baghdad and overthrowing the government is the goal of all of Iraq’s insurgent groups. So far only the Islamic State of Iraq has been able to carry out attacks in that province. It has an extensive network of safe houses and supply lines going throughout the governorate and extending into the surrounding areas that pass fighters, ammunition and explosives into the center to carry out operations. These have shown no let up since June 4 when Mosul was attacked. That means ISIS has maintained its manpower in the Baghdad Belts and not diverted them to other areas to carry out fighting there. The only thing that has seemingly decreased is the constant wave of car bombs, but the overall number of them has remained steady. The sad fact is that violence in Baghdad could actually get worse as the militants want to restart street fighting there just as it did before to threaten the authorities. When that will happen is not known but events have metastasized much quicker than anyone thought so gun battles in the capital could be a reality sooner rather than later.

SOURCES

Buratha News, "Martyrdom and wounding 42 people, the preliminary outcome of a suicide bombing in Bab al-Sheikh district in central Baghdad," 6/15/14

- "Martyrdom and wounding seven people blown up in a car bomb in Shaab district in northeastern Baghdad," 6/5/14

Al Forat, "9 civilians killed, injured northern Baghdad," 6/7/14

Iraq Times, "Martyrdom and wounding 13 people, the bombing targeting Alwa eastern Baghdad," 6/5/14

- "Martyrdom and wounding 20 worshippers targeting Shiite shrine in the neighborhood of Ur," 6/7/14

- "Martyrdom and wounding 21 civilians by a car bomb in western Baghdad Bayaa," 6/7/14

- "martyrs and wounded toll initial burst of Sadr City 51," 6/17/14

Al-Khafaji, Osama, "Killing two soldiers and wounding nine others, suicide bombing on checkpoint north of Baghdad," Alsumaria, 6/2/14

Al Mada, "Killing and wounding at least eight soldiers blown up by a suicide car bomb north of Baghdad," 6/2/14

Al Masalah, "18 dead and 45 wounded..final outcome of the suicide bombing which targeted a checkpoint in Kazemiya," 6/11/14

- "Killing one civilian and a lieutenant colonel and wounding eight by a roadside bomb in New Baghdad," 6/19/14

- "Killing six civilians and wounding 10 others by a car bomb in the neighborhood of Ur," 6/10/14

National Iraqi News Agency, “56 terrorists killed, 21 others wounded in last 24 hours in Baghdad,” 6/16/14

- “Baghdad Operations: /10/ terrorists killed, others injured and improvised explosive devices dismantled in the capital,” 6/21/14

- "Breaking News..Death toll of the car bomb in al- Amil district rose to 3 killed and 11 wounded," 6/7/14

- "Breaking News…Seventeen people killed and wounded in a car bomb attack in eastern Baghdad," 6/7/14

- “A number of terrorists killed and injured along with seizing of explosives in Baghdad,” 6/23/14

- "Two policeman killed, two others injured in a car bomb explosion south of Baghdad," 6/19/14

Radio Nawa, "Baghdad bombings toll rises to 13 dead and 79 wounded," 6/7/14

- "Killing and wounding 10 people in the bombing of the village seen north of Baghdad," 6/14/14

Salaheddin, Sinan, "Attacks across Iraq kill at least 15 people," Associated Press, 6/2/14

- "Car bombs strike Iraq's Kirkuk as attacks kill 17," Associated Press, 6/4/14