Security In Iraq Aug 15-21, 2018

(Iraqi News)

While the number of incidents has remained relatively stable for the last four months, the third week of August 2018 had one of the lowest casualty counts in Iraq since the 2003 invasion.

There were 45 incidents reported in the media from August 15-21. There have been around 40 incidents per week since April. Baghdad was the only area with double digit incidents. That was not because of any change in the situation there but rather because violence has dropped off in the center of the country over the last few weeks.

26 people were reported deal during the week and 45 wounded. 7 bodies were found in the Old City section of west Mosul leaving only 19 violent deaths for the week. That was one of the lowest death counts since the U.S. invasion. 1 member of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), 2 Turkish soldiers, 4 Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), and 19 civilians were killed along with 2 Turkish soldiers, 5 ISF, 9 Hashd al-Shaabi, and 29 civilians being injured. Baghdad had the most casualties with 21. Again, that was average for the province, and only had the largest total due to few attacks in the rest of the country.

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

Anbar 1

Babil 1

Kurdistan 1

Basra 2

Salahaddin 3

Diyala 6

Ninewa 8

Kirkuk 9

Baghdad 14

Casualties In Iraq By Province Aug 15-21, 2018

Basra 2 (1 Killed, 1 Wounded)

Anbar 3 (1 Killed, 2 Wounded)

Babil 4 (4 Wounded)

Kurdistan 4 (2 Killed, 2 Wounded)

Salahaddin 4 (1 Killed, 3 Wounded)

Diyala 7 (3 Killed, 4 Wounded)

Kirkuk 11 (3 Killed, 8 Wounded)

Ninewa 15 (12 Killed, 3 Wounded)

Baghdad 21 (3 Killed, 18 Wounded)

The Islamic State remained barely active in Anbar and Babil. Each only had one incident a piece, both IEDs that left a total of 1 dead and 6 wounded between the two.

Baghdad had its usual mix of small scale bombings and shootings. Those killed 3 people and wounded a total of 18. The capital used to be a major terrorist target, but the insurgency has significantly declined there in the last few months.

In Kurdistan, the PKK attacked a group of Turkish soldiers killing two and wounding two others. Back in March, the Turks launched a major incursion into northern Iraq and threatened the PKK’s main headquarters in the Qandil Mountains. There has been little movement for the last few weeks however, and Ankara appears to be digging in and carrying out regular air strikes and artillery barrages to harass the Kurdish group. One of those air raids took place in Sinjar in Ninewa. This was the first time that district had been hit by the Turks, who have threatened to do so before, and finally followed through with it. In 2017, the PKK, and its affiliates in Syria moved into the district to protect the Yazidis who were facing a genocide at the hands of the Islamic State. The PKK claimed it withdrew from the area this year, but maintains a presence there along with allied Yazidi groups, which prompted the bombing.

Ninewa remained relatively quiet. Two suicide bombers were intercepted and killed in the west, and there was a motorcycle bombing in Mosul that left 3 Hashd wounded. Like Anbar and Babil however, the insurgency is only carrying out small operations in the province now.

Human Rights Watch issued a report on torture going on in Ninewa by the Iraqi security forces. It talked with two former prisoners and a father of a man who died in detention. They each gave details of beatings and abuses going on in detention centers. Torture is still widespread throughout Iraq by the ISF. The main form of evidence in court is confessions, and the security personnel usually resort to beatings and other methods to acquire them. The courts mostly ignore any claims about these methods making it institutionally acceptable even though it is outlawed in the country.

Diyala, Kirkuk and Salahaddin are the main areas where IS is rebuilding, but in the last few weeks it has been relatively quit in those areas. During the week there were only 6 incidents in Diyala, 9 in Kirkuk and 3 in Salahaddin. A few months ago all three were averaging double figures. In Kirkuk, another electrical tower was blown up, and the head of the Riyad council was targeted by an IED. In Salahaddin, two suicide bombers were killed in a security sweep, and a checkpoint in the Tuz Kharmato district was fired upon. Before, IS was targeting local towns and security forces, along with politicians, but there have been few of those types of incidents in recent weeks. This just shows that security always ebbs and flows in the country.

Finally, the deputy commander of the Hashd Abu Muhandis issued an order for all Hashd to withdraw from liberated cities. There were reports that this was happening in Baiji in Salahaddin. That occurred after three sheikhs were kidnapped by Asaib Ahl Al-Haq leading to a gun battle that led the provincial council to demand all outside Hashd units to leave. Later there were stories that the Hashd were to withdraw from Ninewa as well. This could be a political move more than a security one. The pro-Iran Fatah list, which includes many Hashd factions is attempting to create a counter coalition to Muqtada al-Sadr. Making this announcement could be aimed at winning over Sunni parties, many of which have been critical of Shiite Hashd units tied to Tehran.

Islamic State Activity in Central Iraq 2018

Diyala	Shootings (Totals)	IEDs/ Sticky Bombs (Totals)	Gun Battles	Attacks on Checkpoints	Attacks on Mukhtars/ Sheikhs	Kidnappings	Attacks on Towns	Mortars	Suicide Bombers	Car Bombs
Jan	20	24	2	7	-	1	-	6	1	1
Feb	14	13	4	3	-	-	-	-	1	-
Mar	29	21	14	5	1	2	1	5	-	-
Apr	13	18	2	2	-	-	-	2	-	-
May	11	11	1	3	1	1	3	4	1	-
Jun	32	17	5	12	-	1	5	4	-	-
Jul	20	19	2	3	-	2	3	1	-	-
Aug	10	11	1	2	-	-	-	3	-	-

Kirkuk	Shootings (Totals)	IEDs/ Sticky Bombs (Totals)	Gun Battles	Attacks on Checkpoints	Attacks on Mukhtars/ Sheikhs	Kidnappings	Attacks on Towns	Mortars	Suicide Bombers	Car Bombs
Jan	13	6	4	1	-	-	-	3	3	1
Feb	21	10	7	3	-	-	-	4	1	-
Mar	22	15	11	2	-	2	1	3	1	1
Apr	18	4	3	1	-	-	8	1	-	1
May	14	28	2	-	2	1	1	4	4	-
Jun	25	12	4	2	-	2	10	6	-	-
Jul	7	20	1	2	-	-	-	-	-	1
Aug	7	12	2	-	2	-	-	1	-	-

Salahaddin	Shootings (Totals)	IEDs/ Sticky Bombs (Totals)	Gun Battles	Attacks on Checkpoints	Attacks on Mukhtars/ Sheikhs	Kidnappings	Attacks on Towns	Mortars	Suicide Bombers	Car Bombs
Jan	11	9	8	-	-	-	-	2	-	1
Feb	7	5	1	1	-	2	-	-	-	-
Mar	23	8	9	2	-	3	-	-	1	-
Apr	6	8	2	2	-	-	-	-	1	-
May	14	10	10	1	1	-	-	1	1	-
Jun	15	15	4	1	-	7	-	-	-	1
Jul	9	6		4	-	-	2	1	1	-
Aug	7	14	1	2	-	1	1	-	-	-

(Gun Battles, Attacks on Checkpoints, Attacks on Mukhtars, Attacks on Towns are all subsets of the total number of shootings and IEDs/Sticky Bombs reported)

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	36	65	21
Jul 29-31	24	26	11
JUL	214	267 (222 Violent Deaths)	218
Aug 1-7	49	57	30
Aug 8-14	47	43	51
Aug 15-21	45	26	45

Violence By Province Aug 15-21, 2018

Province	Violence
Anbar	1 Incident 1 Killed 1 Civilian 2 Wounded 2 Civilians 1 IED
Babil	1 Incident 4 Wounded 4 Hashd 1 IED
Baghdad	14 Incidents 3 Killed 3 Civilians 18 Wounded 1 ISF 17 Wounded 2 Shootings 5 IEDs 3 Sticky Bombs 1 Sound Bomb
Basra	2 Incidents 1 Killed 1 Civilian 1 Wounded 1 Civilian 1 Shooting 1 IED
Diyala	6 Incidents 3 Killed 3 Civilians 4 Wounded 1 Civilian 1 ISF 2 Hashd 3 Shootings 1 IED
Kirkuk	9 Incidents 3 Killed 1 Civilian 2 ISF 8 Wounded 8 Civilians 6 IEDs 2 Sticky Bombs 1 Mortar
Kurdistan	1 Incident 2 Killed 2 Turkish Soldiers 2 Wounded 2 Turkish Soldiers 1 Shooting
Ninewa	8 Incidents 12 Killed 1 ISF 1 PKK 10 Civilians 3 Wounded 3 Hashd 2 Shootings 1 IED 1 Motorcycle Bomb 1 Turkish Air Strike 2 Suicide Bombers Killed
Salahaddin	3 Incidents 1 Killed 1 ISF 3 Wounded 3 ISF 1 Shooting 1 Sticky Bomb 2 Suicide Bombers Killed

SOURCES

Al Alam, "A total power outage in Ninewa and areas in Kirkuk were effect of terrorist acts," 8/17/18

Baghdad Post, "IED explosion wounds 4 IMIS terrorists in Hillah," 8/19/18

Bas News, "IS Kills, Wounds Three Iraqi Troops near Tuz Khurmatu," 8/21/18

Hath al-Youm, "Five members of the Workers' Party and two Turkish soldiers were killed in Barzan," 8/20/18

Human Rights Watch, “Iraq: Chilling Accounts of Torture, Deaths,” 8/19/18

Iraq Newspaper, "Turkish Workers' Party (PKK) Member In Sinjar Killed By Air Strikes," 8/16/18

Al Maalomah, "Death and injury of three farmers by landmine explosion west of Ramadi," 8/19/18

Al Masalah, "The killing of terrorists wearing two explosive belts in Rabia," 8/20/18

NINA, "Civil Defense Recover 7 Bodies To Civilians Killed By Daesh In Old Mosul," 8/20/18

- "Daesh Militants Blow Up The House Of Head Of Riyadh Council, Kirkuk," 8/19/18

- "Three people injured in a booby-trapped motorcycle exploded in Mosul," 8/19/18

Rudaw, “Hashd al-Shaabi paramilitias ordered out of ‘liberated’ Iraqi cities,” 8/20/18

Xinhua, "Security forces kill 2 IS suicide bombers in central Iraq," 8/15/18

- “Shiite Hashd Shaabi forces withdraw from oil town in central Iraq,” 8/19/18