Security In Iraq, Sep 1-7, 2016

Violence in Iraq continued to ebb and flow. The first week of September 2016 saw a decline in incidents, but casualties remained high. The major reason for the drop was that there were no major government operations, which incur counter attacks by the Islamic State. Even they did not carry out their usual wave of executions. So what accounts for the large number of dead and wounded during the week? Terrorism in Baghdad, a mass grave discovered in Anbar, Turkish bombing, and a day long battle in Salahaddin.

There were 119 recorded security incidents from September 1-7, 2016. That was down from 134 from August 22-28, 155 from August 15-21, and the 121 from August 8-14. This is the usual up and down pattern seen in violence in the country.

Baghdad had the most incidents with 73 during the week. There were another 12 in Salahaddin, 9 in Anbar, 8 in Ninewa, 5 in Kirkuk, 4 in Diyala, 3 in Babil, 3 in Basra, 1 in Irbil, and 1 in the KRG.

Those incidents accounted for 341 deaths and 381 wounded. That included 5 Peshmerga, 30 Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) fighters, 34 members of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), 48 Hashd, and 224 civilians that lost their lives. Another 1 Sahwa, 4 Peshmerga, 10 Hashd, 91 ISF, and 276 civilians were injured. Most of the dead and wounded occurred in Baghdad with 99 dead and 247 wounded. Almost matching that were the 98 killed in Salahaddin, followed by 74 in Anbar, 32 in Ninewa, 30 in Kurdistan, 4 in Basra, 3 in Diyala, and 1 in Kirkuk. Despite the drop in incidents the number of casualties was on par with three of the last four weeks.

There were only 9 incidents reported in Anbar. Those included attacks in Ramadi and Fallujah, as well the Rutba and Hit areas in the west. In Baghdadi a mass grave with 70 victims of the Islamic State was also discovered. Violence has dramatically dropped off in the governorate since the end of the Khalidiya operation, which ended the week before.

For the third week there were over ten incidents per day in the Iraqi capital. 73 were recorded from September 1-7. There was 1 in the center, 1 in an unknown location, 14 in the west, 18 in the east, 20 in the north, and 20 in the south. Karrada was struck by another car bomb, which killed 12 and wounded 37. That district was the site of the second deadliest car bombing since 2003 in July. A second such bombing in just two months led to much outrage against the authorities. Two suicide bombers were also intercepted and killed in the outer towns of the province. The vast majority of casualties however were caused by the 32 IEDs that mostly targeted commercial areas to inflict the most blood and tears.

Violence In Baghdad, Sep 1-7, 2016

Center: 1 – 1 Kidnapping

East: 17 – 1 Robbery, 1 IED, 2 Kidnappings, 3 Mortars, 8 Shootings

Outer East: 1 – 1 IED

North: 7 – 1 Sticky Bomb, 2 Shootings, 3 IEDs

Outer North: 13 – 1 Robbery, 1 Suicide Bomber Killed, 1 Sticky Bomb, 4 IEDs, 5 Shootings

South: 10 – 1 Shooting, 9 IEDs

Outer South: 10 – 2 Shootings, 8 IEDs

West: 9 – 1 Car Bomb, 1 Sticky Bomb, 2 Shootings, 5 IEDs

Outer West: 5 – 1 Suicide Bomber Killed, 1 Kidnapping, 1 Sticky Bomb, 1 IED, 1 Shooting

Unknown: 1 – 1 Shooting

During the summer Diyala was seeing on average two incidents per day, but not anymore. For the second week very little appeared to be happening in the province with just 4 incidents. That didn’t mean the Islamic State wasn’t trying to sow chaos as a suicide bomber was embraced by a policeman outside a Shiite shrine in Mandali, which cost him his life, but saved the civilians in the area.

Irbil had a rare incident when someone threw a grenade at the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) headquarters in the city.

In previous weeks, IS was attempting to maintain control of the Hawija district in southern Kirkuk. It is the last section of the province under its control and hundreds were trying to flee their grips. IS responded with mass executions. In the first week of September only 1 Mukhatar was killed, and that wasn’t even in Hawija.

Turkish jets have been bombing northern Kurdistan every few days targeting the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Casualties are rarely mentioned, but during the week Ankara claimed it killed 90 PKK members including some leadership elements.

There were just 8 incidents in Ninewa. IS executed 12 people in Tal Afar. The group also blew up 26 homes belonging to police officers in Hamam Al-Aleel outside of Mosul. 17 civilians who were returning to the Qayara district, which had just been freed, along with a soldier and a policeman were killed by a booby-trapped house. IS also fired rockets and mortars and launched infantry assaults upon Qayara and the Sinjar district. In total 32 people were killed and 11 wounded during the week.

IS carried out two deadly attacks in Salahaddin. First, there was heavy fighting in Mutaibijah with 153 reported casualties amongst the Hsahd and ISF, but there might be overlap in those figures. The next day, the insurgents attacked Shah Siwan in the Tuz Kharmato district with a suicide car bomb and gunfire that left seven fatalities and eight injured.

The number of car bombs going off in the country remained at a low level. During the week there were just two, one in Salahaddin and one in Baghdad. That cost the lives of 19 people and wounded 45. The Iraqi forces didn’t claim any destroyed vehicles.

Violence In Iraq 2016

Date	Incidents	Dead	Wounded
Jan 1-7	179	866	476
Jan 8-14	168	560	480
Jan 15-21	166	400	335
Jan 22-28	154	457	361
Jan 29-31	56	135	334
JAN	723	2,418	1,986
Feb 1-7	184	626	355
Feb 8-14	150	259	375
Feb 15-21	162	400	293
Feb 22-29	161	400	701
FEB	657	1,685	1,724
Mar 1-7	185	351	484
Mar 8-14	169	477	517
Mar 15-21	133	419	510
Mar 22-28	141	245	432
Mar 29-31	53	192	152
MAR	681	1,684	2,095
Apr 1-7	157	398	508
Apr 8-14	146	361	443
Apr 15-21	130	531	300
Apr 22-28	165	480	532
Apr 29-30	31	65	121
APR	629	1,835	1,904
May 1-7	164	386	422
May 8-14	147	407	687
May 15-21	127	387	617
May 22-28	150	315	445
May 29-31	85	142	313
MAY	673	1,637	2,484
Jun 1-7	177	592	1,639
Jun 8-14	136	345	472
Jun 15-21	154	416	523
Jun 22-28	123	329	410
Jun 29-30	40	429	3,405
JUN	630	2,111	6,449
Jul 1-7	120	589	635
Jul 8-14	129	242	316
Jul 15-21	123	168	272
Jul 22-28	115	234	366
Jul 29-31	43	95	119
JUL	530	1,328	1,708
Aug 1-7	109	342	255
Aug 8-14	121	176	245
Aug 15-21	155	388	392
Aug 22-28	134	269	312
Aug 29-31	55	88	172
AUG	574	1,263	1,376
Sep 1-7	119	341	381

Security By Province Sep 1-7, 2016

Province	Incidents
Anbar	9 Incidents 74 Killed: 1 Hashd, 73 Civilians 3 Wounded: 3 Civilians 6 Shootings 1 Mortar 1 Rockets 2 Suicide Bombers Killed
Babil	3 Incidents 2 Wounded: 2 Hashd 1 IED 1 Sticky Bomb
Baghdad	73 Incidents 99 Killed: 1 Hashd, 5 ISF, 93 Civilians 247 Wounded: 17 ISF, 230 Civilians 22 Shootings 32 IEDs 4 Sticky Bombs 1 Car Bomb 3 Mortars 2 Suicide Bombers Killed
Basra	3 Incidents 4 Killed: 4 Civilians 1 Wounded: 1 ISF 3 Shootings
Diyala	4 Incidents 3 Killed: 1 ISF, 2 Civilians 2 Wounded: 1 ISF, 1 Sahwa 2 Shootings 1 IED 1 Suicide Bomber
Irbil	1 Incident 1 Shooting
Kirkuk	5 Incidents 1 Killed: 1 Civilian 1 Grenade
KRG	1 Incident 30 Killed: 30 PKK 1 Turkish Air Strike
Ninewa	8 Incidents 32 Killed: 1 ISF, 31 Civilians 11 Wounded: 11 Civilians 5 Shootings 27 IEDs 1 Mortar 3 Rockets
Salahaddin	12 Incidents 98 Killed: 5 Peshmerga, 27 ISF, 46 Hashd 115 Wounded: 4 Peshmerga, 8 Hashd, 31 Civilians, 72 ISF 5 Shootings 6 IEDs 1 Suicide Car Bomb

Car Bombs In Iraq Sep 2016

Date	Car Bombs	Dead	Wounded
Sep 1
Sep 2
Sep 3	Shah Siwan, Salahaddin	7	8
Sep 4
Sep 5	Karrada, Baghdad	12	37
Sep 6
Sep 7
Totals	2 – 0 Destroyed	19	45

SOURCES

AIN, "The death of 6 civilians and sounding six others in terrorist attack on Tuz," 9/3/16

Iraq News Network, "Anbar: discovery of a mass grave containing the bodies of 70 civilians," 9/1/16

Al Maalomah, "Seven dead and 13 wounded at least in double suicide bombing in Tuz," 9/3/16

Al Mada, "Health confirms 49 dead and injured people in Karrada explosion," 9/6/16

Al Masalah, "Policeman sacrifices himself and thwarts suicide attack targeting a Shiite shrine in Baquba," 9/2/16

NINA, "Booby-Trapped House Kills Ands Wounds 22 Civilians And Security Forces In Qayyarah," 9/4/16

- "Daesh Executes 12 Civilians, Including 4 Kurds, in Mosul," 9/7/16

- "The Death toll of victims of the suicide bombing of the Turkoman village south of Kirkuk rose to the 13 people killed and wounded," 9/3/16

Reuters, "Turkish air strikes kill 30 Kurds in Iraq," 9/4/16

Salaheddin, Sinan, "Islamic State car bombing kills at least 12 civilians in Iraqi capital," Associated Press, 9/6/16

Sotaliraq, "Fire on headquarters of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan," 9/1/16

Xinhua, "6 killed, 9 wounded in two bomb attacks in Ira,"9/3/16