Security In Iraq July 22-28, 2018

Security continued to fluctuate in Iraq. The third week of July was one of those down weeks as Musings On Iraq recorded the fewest weekly security incidents ever.

There were only 37 incidents reported in the media from July 22-28. That was the lowest weekly total ever recorded by Musings On Iraq since 2014. The previous low was 39 incidents from May 15-21. Of the eight provinces that recorded incidents only Baghdad at 14 was in double figures.

Security Incidents In Iraq By Province Jul 22-28, 2018

Dohuk 1

Irbil 1

Muthanna 1

Kirkuk 3

Anbar 4

Ninewa 6

Diyala 7

Baghdad 14

Casualties In Iraq By Province July 22-28, 2018

Dohuk 2 (2 Killed)

Kirkuk 4 (1 Killed, 3 Wounded)

Irbil 5 (1 Killed, 4 Wounded)

Diyala 9 (9 Killed)

Anbar 13 (3 Killed, 10 Wounded)

Baghdad 13 (9 Killed, 4 Wounded

Ninewa 41 (41 Killed)

A total of 66 died and 21 were wounded during the week. 33 bodies were discovered in the rubble of west Mosul. That left 33 violent deaths during the week. In total, 2 Hashd al-Shaabi, 4 Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), and 60 civilians lost their lives with 4 ISF, 5 civilians and 12 Hashd being injured.

Anbar, Baghdad, and Ninewa remained relatively quiet. A Hashd convoy was attacked in west Anbar leaving 1 dead and 8 wounded. Baghdad had its usual mix of shootings and just two bombings. There was only one attack in Ninewa when an IED went off in the Sinjar district. These all used to be centers of Islamic State activity, but the group has largely withdrawn from these areas to concentrate on central Iraq.

Diyala, Kirkuk, and Salahaddin is where IS is now concentrating. During the week all three were quiet however. There were just 7 incidents in Diyala, 3 in Kirkuk, and none in Salahaddin. In Diyala another village was attacked and a person kidnapped. This was the third town this month that the insurgents assaulted. An IED also killed a local mukhtar. Kirkuk just had 3 shootings.

Irbil witnessed some violence as well. First, the Islamic State attacked the government offices and temporarily took it over in Irbil city leaving one dead and four police wounded. They also got into a gun battle in Makhmour in the very southern tip of the governorate, and shot and killed a civilian there. Makhmour has seen sporadic violence, but the attack on Irbil was very different showing that IS was attempting to grab the headlines and make its presence known.

Finally, an intelligence officer’s car was blown up in Muthanna.

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	14	17	1	2	2	3	-	-

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	6	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
Jul 22-28	37	66	21

Violence By Province Jul 22-28, 2018

Province	Violence
Anbar	4 Incidents 3 Killed 1 Hashd 2 Civilians 10 Wounded 2 Civilians 8 Hashd 3 Shootings 1 IED
Baghdad	14 Incidents 9 Killed 9 Civilians 4 Wounded 1 Hashd 3 Civilians 9 Shootings 2 IEDs 1 Sticky Bomb
Dohuk	1 Incident 2 Killed 2 Civilians 1 Turkish Shelling
Diyala	7 Incidents 9 Killed 9 Civilians 2 Shootings 3 IEDs
Irbil	3 Incidents 6 Killed 4 Police 2 Civilians 4 Wounded 4 Police 3 Shootings
Kirkuk	3 Incidents 1 Killed 1 Hashd 3 Wounded 3 Hashd 3 Shootings
Muthanna	1 Incident 1 Sticky Bomb
Ninewa	4 Incidents 36 Killed 36 Civilians 1 IED

SOURCES

Bas News, "Hashd al-Shaabi Official Killed in Kirkuk," 7/27/18

- "IS Attacks Iraqi Forces in Makhmour, Kills at Least Four," 7/24/18

- "IS-Planted Landmine Kills Yezidi IDP Inside his Home," 7/23/18

Buratha News, "A mass grave containing the remains of 30 people killed by Daesh found south of Mosul," 7/28/18

Al Ghad Press, "An intelligence officer survives an assassination attempt by sticky bomb in Samawa," 7/23/18

Mostafa, Nehal, "Nine security personnel killed, injured in attack, west of Anbar," Iraqi News, 7/28/18

- "Two Islamic State members killed in confrontations against police, southwest of Kirkuk," Iraqi News, 7/28/18

Rudaw, "Security forces kill 3 armed hostage-takers in Erbil siege," 7/23/18

Shafaaq News, "Three bodies were found under a tunnel in Mosul," 7/23/18

- "Wounded in the ranks of the tribal fighters in Daash attack southwest Kirkuk," 7/26/18

Sotaliraq, "Four security personnel were injured in clashes with insurgents inside the Irbil governorate building," 7/23/18

Xinhua, "4 people killed in attacks in eastern Iraq," 7/25/18