Security In Iraq Jul 8-14, 2018

There have been fluctuations in Iraq’s security situation week to week and July 8-14 was one of those down times. There were just 44 incidents during the week, which was on the low end. Also, due to the large protests that swept southern Iraq the media’s coverage of the rest of the country fell off tremendously, so there might have been some under reporting as well.

7 of the 8 areas of Iraq reporting violence had single digits in incidents. Diyala was the one exception with 12. That has been one of the main Islamic State rebuilding areas of the country, so even during a week when there were few reported attacks the figures remained relatively high there.

Security Incidents In Iraq By Province Jul 8-14, 2018

Irbil 1

Kurdistan 2

Anbar 3

Salahaddin 5

Ninewa 6

Kirkuk 7

Baghdad 8

Diyala 12

Casualties In Iraq By Province July 8-14, 2018

Irbil 3 (3 Killed)

Ninewa 5 (5 Killed)

Kurdistan 6 (6 Killed)

Baghdad 11 (5 Killed, 6 Wounded)

Diyala 11 (7 Killed, 4 Wounded)

Salahaddin 14 (10 Killed, 4 Wounded)

Anbar 15 (10 Killed, 5 Wounded)

Kirkuk 23 (11 Killed, 12 Wounded)

57 people lost their lives and 31 were injured from July 8-14. 4 bodies were found, leaving 53 violent deaths. 9 were killed in Kurdistan leaving 44 fatalities in the rest of the country. 3 Turkish soldiers, 6 members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), 9 Hashd al-Shaabi, 18 Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), and 21 civilians were killed, and 6 Hashd, 10 Civilians, and 15 ISF were wounded.

Anbar, Baghdad, and Ninewa remain the quieter areas of the country. These used to be centers of IS activity, but as the group has changed strategy to the center incidents in these three provinces are more sporadic. There were just 3 incidents in Anbar, including one gun battle and two IEDs on ISF patrols. Baghdad had 8 incidents with the usual mix of shootings and IEDs. Ninewa witnessed 6 incidents including a grenade thrown at the headquarters of the Hashd unit the Babylon Brigades, which might have been due to a political dispute.

Central Iraq remained the center of the insurgency’s rebirth. In Diyala there were a string of IEDs along with an attack upon an ISF base and one shoot out. The government also launched the second phase of Revenge of the Martyrs operation, which was in response to a series of kidnappings and murders of people along the highway towards Baghdad. A suicide bomber was killed, a mukhtar was kidnapped and assassinated, while another kidnapping was foiled, and IS attacked a checkpoint along a pipeline in Kirkuk, and blew up two electricity towers. The security forces conducted a sweep through the Hawija district in the south, which is one of the insurgents’ main bases in the governorate, while the governor complained that the ISF had not thoroughly cleared Kirkuk of IS elements. Finally, in Salahaddin the militants attacked a Hashd base with suicide bombers that left 8 dead and wounded. There were also continued reports of IS intimidating and kidnapping people from rural towns. IS is concentrating upon regaining control of the villages and border areas and mountains of these three provinces. Most of the incidents are aimed at controlling the locals in those areas, and to drive off the security forces. So far they have been successful, and the government’s security plans ineffective.

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	9	10	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	2	8	-	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	2	6	-	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

Violence By Province Jul 8-14, 2018

Province	Violence
Anbar	3 Incidents 10 Killed 2 Hashd 8 ISF 5 Wounded 5 ISF 1 Shooting 2 IEDs 1 Rockets
Baghdad	8 Incidents 5 Killed 5 Civilians 6 Wounded 2 Hashd 4 Civilians 4 Shootings 2 IEDs 2 Sticky Bombs
Diyala	12 Incidents 7 Killed 2 ISF 5 Civilians 4 Wounded 1 ISF 3 Civilians 2 Shootings 8 IEDs 1 Mortar
Irbil	1 Incident 3 Killed 3 Turkish Air Strikes 1 Shooting
Kirkuk	8 Incidents 11 Killed 5 Civilians 6 ISF 12 Wounded 3 Civilians 9 ISF 1 Shooting 5 IEDs 1 Suicide Bomber Killed
Kurdistan	2 Incidents 6 Killed 6 PKK 2 Turkish Air Strikes
Ninewa	6 Incidents 5 Killed 1 Hashd 1 ISF 3 Civilians 1 Shooting 2 IEDs 1 Grenade
Salahaddin	4 Incidents 10 Killed 1 ISF 3 Civilians 6 Hashd 4 Wounded 4 Hashd 2 Shootings 1 IED 4 Suicide Bombers Killed

SOURCES

Baghdad Post, “ISIS still controls a number of areas in Kirkuk: Governor,” 7/13/18

- "Military operation launched to pursue ISIS terrorists in Diyala," 7/12/18

Bas News, "IS Kills Six Iraqi Security Personnel in Western Kirkuk," 7/11/18

Al Forat, "URGENT The crowd kills four suicide bombers who tried to sneak into the Baiji operations command," 7/9/18

Hussein, Mohammed, Tahir, Rawaz, "Four killed protecting pipeline warehouse outside Kirkuk," Iraqi Oil Report, 7/12/18

Al-Jibouri, Ghazwan Hassan, “New Terror Campaign, Extremists Intimidate, Harass, Dislocate Locals In Salahaddin, Then Take Over,” Niqash, 7/12/18

Al Maalomah, "The death of an officer and two soldiers by an explosive device in Ramadi," 7/8/18

Al Masalah, "Targeting the headquarters of the Babylon Brigade in Mosul," 7/8/18

Al Mirbad, "The Federal Police are combing 58 villages northwest Hawija," 7/9/18

Mostafa, Nehal, "Four Iraqi soldiers killed, injured in bomb blast, west of Anbar," Iraqi News, 7/9/18

- "Islamic State executes mayor of village, kidnapped last week, southwest of Kirkuk," Iraqi News, 7/9/18

- "Security personnel killed in confrontations against Islamic State, south of Diyala," Iraqi News, 7/8/18

NINA, "An attack on a military base foiled north of Baquba," 7/8/18

Reuters, "Militants kill three militia fighters near Iraq's Baiji refinery: police," 7/9/18

Shafaaq News, "Daash fails to carry out a new kidnapping south Kirkuk," 7/10/18

Al Sumaria, "Dash destroys two electricity towers that run through Hawija to Samarra across Kirkuk," 7/12/18

- "Five security forces killed and wounded in a suicide bombing in Baiji," 7/9/18

Xinhua, "5 security members killed in IS attack in Iraq's Anbar province,"7/8/18