Security In Iraq Jul 15-21, 2018

After a slight dip in incidents in the second week of July, things were back to their averages from July 15-21 in Iraq. The two big stories for security during the week was an explosion of attacks in Kirkuk in the middle of the week, and attempts at mass casualty bombings in Salahaddin.

From July 15-21, 54 incidents were reported in the media. That was up from 44 the week before, but there has been an average of at least 50 incidents per week since May. Out of the 9 areas that reported violence all were in single digits except for Kirkuk with 10 and Ninewa with 11.

Security Incidents In Iraq By Province Jul 15-21, 2018

Basra 1

Babil 2

Irbil 2

Kurdistan 2

Salahaddin 8

Baghdad 9

Diyala 9

Kirkuk 10

Ninewa 11

Casualties In Iraq By Province July 15-21, 2018

Babil 2 (2 Killed)

Diyala 5 (4 Killed, 1 Wounded)

Kurdistan 8 (8 Killed)

Baghdad 9 (4 Killed, 5 Wounded)

Irbil 9 (9 Killed)

Salahaddin 22 (5 Killed, 17 Wounded)

Ninewa 29 (25 Killed, 4 Wounded)

Kirkuk 41 (4 Killed, 37 Wounded)

61 people lost their lives and 64 were wounded during the week. 8 bodies were found in west Mosul from the battle for the city leaving 53 violent deaths. 2 Hashd al-Shaabi, 3 Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), 7 Peshmerga, 17 members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), and 32 civilians were killed and 16 ISF and 48 civilians were injured.

The four month campaign by Turkey against the PKK continued in northern Kurdistan. There were three Turkish air raids that killed a total of 17 members of the Kurdish group. The Turks are making a slow advance on the PKK base in the Qandil Mountains, while regularly shelling and bombing the border area.

The Islamic State continued its rebuilding in central Iraq. Diyala had 9 incidents which were all low level accept for a female suicide bomber being arrested at the start of the week. On July 18, things exploded in Kirkuk city. There were 3 Rockets, 3 IEDs and 3 grenades throughout the city leaving 2 dead and 29 wounded. That was a reminder that the insurgents still have cells in the city and can infiltrate into it, and are not just in the rural areas like Hawija and Daquq in the south. There were several attempts at large bombings in Salahaddin. A suicide bomber hit a checkpoint in Tikrit causing 1 death and 5 wounded. A car bomb was dismantled earlier in the city, and 6 suicide bombers were killed attacking a pumping station along a pipeline in the Baiji district. The Islamic State has pulled most of its resources from the rest of the country to concentrate in these three provinces. They all neighbor each other, and the group is moving back and forth between them. There are constant security sweeps there, but none has been successful because IS simply moves out when the security forces come in, and migrate back when the operations are over. The rebuilding process there has also led to more sophisticated attacks being carried out there instead of just the usual shootings and IEDs that occur in the rest of the country. Instead you have mass casualty bombings, attacks on villages, burning of crops and homes, intimidation of locals, etc. This poses a long term threat to the country because the government has been unable to stop IS’s plans.

Incidents in Ninewa have largely fallen off in the last year, but this week was an exception. even though there were 11 incidents they were all scattered shootings and IEDs, although there was one shoot out with insurgents in the west where militants are often caught attempting to infiltrate in from Syria.

Diyala	Shootings	IEDs/ Sticky Bombs	Mortars	Gun Battles	Kidnappings	Attacks on Towns	Suicide Bombers	Car Bombs
Jan	18	23	6	2	2	-	1	1
Feb	10	13	-	4	-	-	1	-
Mar	16	21	5	13	3	1	-	-
Apr	12	17	3	1	1	-	-	-
May	9	11	4	1	2	3	1	-
Jun	22	17	4	5	1	5	-	-
Jul	13	14	1	2	1	2	-	-

Kirkuk	Shootings	IEDs/ Sticky Bombs	Mortars	Gun Battles	Kidnappings	Attacks on Towns	Suicide Bombers	Car Bombs
Jan	9	6	3	4	-	-	3	1
Feb	14	13	4	7	-	-	1	-
Mar	14	15	3	8	4	1	1	1
Apr	11	4	1	2	-	8	-	1
May	12	28	4	2	2	1	4	-
Jun	17	12	6	5	4	8	-	-
Jul	3	13	-	1	2	-	-	1

Salahaddin	Shootings	IEDs/ Sticky Bombs	Mortars	Gun Battles	Kidnappings	Attacks on Towns	Suicide Bombers	Car Bombs
Jan	3	9	2	8	-	-	-	1
Feb	6	5	-	1	2	-	-	-
Mar	13	8	-	9	3	-	1	-
Apr	4	8	-	2	-	-	1	-
May	3	10	1	10	-	1	1	-
Jun	10	15	1	5	8	-	-	1
Jul	4	8	1	1	1	1	1	-

Security In Iraq 2017-18

Week	Security Incidents	Dead	Wounded
JAN 2017	719	1,923	4,374
FEB	628	1,891 + 399	2,511 + 1,634
MAR	720	3,504 + 278	3,302 + 2,925
APR	578	2,933	1,955
MAY	528	2,038	1,563
JUN	534	2,038	1,563
JUL	478	1,490	650
AUG	359	1,949	584
SEP	306	728	549
OCT	286	913	865 + 1,700
NOV	296	1,282	425
DEC	261	763	300
Jan 1-7	71	50	66
Jan 8-14	64	62	70
Jan 15-21	68	156	151
Jan 22-28	68	148	66
Jan 29-31	27	23	22
JAN 2018	298	439 (218 Violent Deaths)	375
Feb 1-7	66	196	67
Feb 8-14	65	63	93
Feb 15-21	59	346	43
Feb 22-28	55	44	72
FEB	245	649 (233 Violent Deaths)	275
Mar 1-7	78	120	84
Mar 8-14	60	84	61
Mar 15-21	67	168	98
Mar 22-28	81	213	61
Mar 29-31	21	26	35
MAR	307	611 (466 Violent Deaths)	339
Apr 1-7	40	174	29
Apr 8-14	64	175	83
Apr 15-21	44	63	72
Apr 22-28	44	62	48
Apr 29-30	12	12	4
APR	204	486 (240 Violent Deaths)	236
May 1-7	51	57	56
May 8-14	56	68	49
May 15-21	39	58	82
May 22-28	51	73	51
May 29-31	21	42	15
MAY	218	298 (273 Violent Deaths)	253
Jun 1-7	55	100	32
Jun 8-14	72	108	88
Jun 15-21	42	83	19
Jun 22-28	52	58	65
Jun 29-30	18	22	14
JUN	239	371 (327 Violent Deaths)	218
Jul 1-7	56	58	91
Jul 8-14	44	57	31
Jul 15-21	54	61	64

Violence By Province Jul 15-21, 2018

Province	Violence
Babil	2 Incidents 2 Killed 2 Civilians 1 Shooting 1 IED
Baghdad	9 Incidents 4 Killed 4 Civilians 5 Wounded 1 ISF 4 Civilians 4 Shootings 2 IEDs 1 Sticky Bomb 1 Sound Bomb
Basra	1 Incident 1 IED
Diyala	9 Incidents 4 Killed 4 Civilians 1 Wounded 1 ISF 4 Shootings 4 IEDs 1 Suicide Bomber Killed
Irbil	2 Incidents 9 Killed 9 PKK 1 Turkish Air Strike
Kirkuk	10 Incidents 4 Killed 1 ISF 3 Civilians 37 Wounded 6 ISF 31 Civilians 1 Shooting 4 IEDs 1 Sticky Bomb 3 Rockets 4 Grenades
Kurdistan	2 Incidents 8 Killed 8 PKK 2 Turkish Air Strikes
Ninewa	11 Incidents 25 Killed 1 ISF 7 Peshmerga 17 Civilians 4 Wounded 4 Civilians 5 Shootings 3 IEDs
Salahaddin	8 Incidents 5 Killed 1 ISF 2 Hashd 2 Civilians 17 Wounded 8 ISF 9 Civilians 2 Shootings 2 IEDs 1 Suicide Bomber 1 Mortar 6 Suicide Bombers Killed 1 Car Bomb Dismantled

SOURCES

Baghdad Post, "ISIS terrorists attack oi facility in Biji: source," 7/19/18

- "Security forces arrest woman wearing an explosive belt in Diyala," 7/16/18

- "Suicide attack kills, wounds 6 in Tikrit," 7/20/18

Al Ghad Press, "12 wounded New toll of Kirkuk attacks," 7/18/18

- "The Popular and Tribal Crowds are thwarting a terrorist plot west of Ninewa," 7/19/18

- "Three Katyusha rockets hit the children's hospital in central Kirkuk," 7/18/18

Goran, Baxtiyar, "Three explosions rock Kirkuk city," 7/18/18

Mostafa, Nehal, "At least 30 persons killed, injured in bomb blasts in Kirkuk," Iraqi News, 7/18/18

- "Eight civilians bodies, including five children, recovered from under rubble in Mosul," Iraqi News, 7/21/18

NINA, "Eight PKK members were killed by Turkish air strikes in northern Iraq," 7/21/18

Press TV, "PKK logistics head slain in Turkish airstrikes in northern Iraq," 7/19/18

Al Raya, "#Urgent Al-Jazeera: 14 wounded in a series of bombings that hit the city of Kirkuk, Iraq," 7/18/18

Shafaaq News, "Two killed and 17 injured The final toll of the Kirkuk bombings," 7/19/18

Al Sumaria, "Interior announces the dismantling of a car bomb in the middle of Tikrit," 7/15/18

- "PKK: Eight PKK soldiers killed in northern Iraq," 7/17/18

Xinhua, "Iraqi forces foil attack by 4 IS suicide bombers in central Iraq," 7/19/18