Islamic State Launches New Car Bomb Campaign In Iraq

The Islamic State (IS) started a new car bomb wave in July 2015. Even before the month was over the group had launched almost double the number of vehicle borne improvised explosive devices (VBIEDs) as the previous month. Although more than half of these devices were destroyed before reaching their targets, those that got through took a huge toll on the government’s forces and civilians.

In the first five months of 2015 the Islamic State was steadily picking up the number of car bombs it was using in Iraq. In December 2014 there were just 21 successful car bombs in Iraq. Then in January there were 45, followed by 52 in February, 63 in March, 67 in April, and 77 in May. In June those figures dropped again to 31 in June. IS started a new campaign the following month with 59 VBIEDs hitting their targets from July 1-27. A huge number more were destroyed. The numbers pointed to a five month long campaign starting in 2015 of increasing car bombs before stocks ran out and IS had to regroup in June before starting a new one in July. If the pattern continues Iraq will see more VBIEDs being used over the next few months.

# of Successful Car Bombs In Iraq 2015 By Month

Month	# of Successful Car Bombs
Jan	45
Feb	52
Mar	63
Apr	67
May	77
Jun	31
Jul 1-27	59

 

The scope of the Islamic State’s new campaign is best seen by comparing June to July. In the former there were 31 VBIEDs with another 68 destroyed. That went up to 59 from July 1-27 with 88 destroyed. In June there were bombings 21 out of 30 days of the month. Those were broken down into four separate waves. The first was from June 1-6, then a short one of three days from June 12-14, then a week long wave from June 22-28, and ending with another three day spread from June 30 to July 2. From July 1-27 there has already been VBIED attacks 24 out of 27 days. The majority of those came during a 21 day stretch from July 4 to 24 when there was at least one car bomb each day. In June, the main targets were Anbar and Salahaddin where the heaviest fighting was taking place in the country. Each province had 17 attacks each. Baghdad was next with 9 and then there were 2 in Diyala. In July, Anbar was struck the most with 31 as IS tried to counter the government offensive that started there in the middle of the month. After that there were 17 each in Baghdad and Salahaddin. Most of the VBIEDs in Salahaddin were in the Baiji area where there was another government campaign going on to recapture the town and refinery there. The bombings in the capital were different as they were terrorist attacks against civilians. There were also five bombings in Diyala, which has become a new emphasis of IS recently. Finally there were 4 VBIED attacks in Ninewa as the insurgents were testing the peshmerga defenses there. While during both months IS was using a large number of car bombs against the government’s forces, in July there were just as many aimed at civilians. That marked a shift from focusing mostly upon tactical attacks to a balance between those types of targets and civilian ones. 

Car Bombs In Iraq, June-July 2015

Date	Location	Dead	Wounded
Jun 1	Fallujah & Thar Thar x3, Anbar Muthanna Facility, Salahaddin – 4 destroyed	58	57
Jun 2	Palestine St, Baghdad	6	13
Jun 3	Husaiba & Jubba, Anbar – 3 destroyed Ajeel, Salahaddin – 1 destroyed
Jun 4	Thar Thar, Anbar Baya, Baghdad Husaiba & Thar Thar, Anbar – 2 destroyed	5	14
Jun 5	West of Samarra, Salahaddin – 1 destroyed
Jun 6	Baladrooz, Diyala Taqseem, Anbar – 4 destroyed Baiji, Salahaddin – 1 destroyed	14	37
Jun 7
Totals	8 & 16 Destroyed	83	121
Jun 8
Jun 9	Palestine St, Baghdad West of Samarra, Salahaddin – 1 destroyed	10	24
Jun 10	Shula, Baghdad Baghdad – 7 destroyed	6	20
Jun 11
Jun 12	Baiji x2, Salahaddin Jazeera, Salahaddin – 1 destroyed	8	20
Jun 13	Garma x4 & Haiyakil x2, Anbar Hijjaj x4, Salahaddin Haditha, Anbar – 3 destroyed Baiji & Camp Speicher, Salahaddin – 17 destroyed	42	49
Jun 14	Baghdadi x2, Anbar Shaab, Baghdad Baghdadi, Anbar – 2 destroyed Baiji, Salahaddin – 12 destroyed	3	10
Totals	17 & 43 Destroyed	69	123
Jun 15
Jun 16
Jun 17	Kadhimiya, Baghdad	7	16
Jun 18	Baiji, Salahaddin – 1 destroyed
Jun 19
Jun 20
Jun 21
Totals	1 & 1 Destroyed	7	16
Jun 22	Nukhaib, Anbar	2	8
Jun 23	Rahaliya, Anbar – 1 destroyed
Jun 24	Mandali, Diyala Nazim, Anbar – 1 destroyed	16	22
Jun 25	Shaab, Baghdad	6	16
Jun 26	Baiji, Salahaddin	3	5
Jun 27	Karrada, Baghdad	5	13
Jun 28	Amiriya Fallujah, Anbar – 2 destroyed
Totals	5 & 4 Destroyed	32	64
Jun 29
Jun 30	Baiji & Tal Abu Jarad, Salahaddin – 4 destroyed
Totals	4 Destroyed
JUNE GRAND TOTAL	31 & 68 Destroyed	191	324
Jul 1	Riyahah, Salahaddin		1
Jul 2	Nukhaib, Anbar Fatah & Tal Abu, Salahaddin Baiji-Tikrit Road, Salahaddin– 2 destroyed	9	12
Jul 3
Jul 4	Baya x2, Baghdad Baiji x2, Salahaddin Khursabad & Nouran, Ninewa – 3 destroyed	20	22
Jul 5	Amil & Dora, Baghdad Baladrooz, Diyala Hadith Dam, Anbar – 7 destroyed	16	55
Jul 6	Jubba, Anbar New Baghdad, Baghdad Haditha, Outside Haditha & Saqlawiya, Anbar - 12 destroyed Baiji, Salahaddin – 2 destroyed	11	11
Jul 7	Baiji x3, Salahaddin Sinjar, Ninewa – 3 destroyed Tal Abu Jarad, Salahaddin – 3 destroyed	10	35
Totals	16 & 32 Destroyed	66	136
Jul 8	Sakran, Anbar Ramadi, Anbar – 1 destroyed	1	1
Jul 9	Alwa, Baghdad Husaiba, Anbar – 1 destroyed Tal Abu Jarad, Salahaddin – 3 destroyed		1
Jul 10	Khalidiya x7, Anbar Amil & Zafaraniya, Baghdad	23	48
Jul 11	Abu Fleis x3, Anbar Husaiba & Saqlawiya, Anbar – 11 destroyed Bjara, Salahaddin – 2 destroyed	8	5
Jul 12	Bunuk, Iskan, Kadhimiya, &Shaab, Baghdad Tarmiya, Salahaddin Sadr City, Baghdad – 1 destroyed Albu Juari & Hawi, Salahaddin – 4 destroyed	43	103
Jul 13	Fallujah x5, Anbar
Jul 14	Nukhaib, Anbar Khalis, Diyala East of Husaiba, Saqlawiya, Shehan, Anbar – 13 destroyed	8	16
Totals	26 & 36 Destroyed	83	174
Jul 15	Baiji, Salahaddin	1	10
Jul 16	Nukhaib, Anbar
Jul 17	Khan Bani Saad, Diyala East of Ramadi, Anbar – 3 destroyed	130	155
Jul 18	Khalidiya, Anbar	2	3
Jul 19	Hardan, Ninewa – 5 destroyed
Jul 20	Khalis, Diyala	4	18
Jul 21	New Baghdad & Zafaraniya, Baghdad Mandali, Diyala Tarmiya, Salahaddin North of Fallujah, Anbar – 2 destroyed	39	83
Totals	9 & 10 Destroyed	176	259
Jun 22	Fallujah, Anbar Baya & Shaab, Baghdad Fallujah Anbar – 3 destroyed East of Tikrit, Salahaddin – 3 destroyed	28	58
Jun 23	Fallujah area x2, Anbar	81
Jun 24	Fallujah x2, Anbar Husaiba, Anbar – 1 destroyed	21	24
Jul 25
Jul 26
Jul 27	Bob al-Sham, Baghdad Jisar al-Shmal, Anbar – 3 destroyed		4
JULY TOTALS	59 & 88 Destroyed	455	655

Analysis of Car Bombs June-July 2015

Month	# of Days With Car Bombs	Car Bomb Waves	Targets Hit - Military	Targets Hit - Civilian
June	21 out of 30	Jun 1-6 = 6 days Jun 12-14 = 3 days Jun 22-28 = 7 days Jun 30-Jul 2 = 3 days	13	9
July	24 out of 27	Jul 4-24 = 21 days	21	23

Car Bombs By Province June-July 2015

Province	June	July
Anbar	17	31
Baghdad	9	17
Diyala	2	5
Ninewa		4
Salahaddin	17	17

 

2015 shows that the Islamic State’s networks are still in tact throughout central Iraq. When there were just 21 successful car bombs in December it might have been because some of its car bomb bases were rolled up by the security forces. Now it appears that December was just one of those dips after a car bomb campaign is over. Similarly, June witnessed a drop, and now a new offensive is underway in July. The result is a doubling of reported casualties with more not being officially mentioned. That toll will likely increase if IS maintains its campaign in the following months.