Security In Iraq Aug 8-14, 2018

(Reuters)

Violence remained concentrated in central Iraq where the Islamic State is rebuilding. There were 47 incidents reported in the media, which was within the mean since April.

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

Babil 1

Karbala 1

Anbar 5

Ninewa 5

Kirkuk 7

Diyala 8

Baghdad 9

Salahaddin 11

Casualties In Iraq By Province Aug 8-14, 2018

Babil 2 (2 Wounded)

Diyala 3 (3 Wounded)

Kirkuk 6 (3 Killed, 3 Wounded)

Ninewa 17 (6 Killed, 11 Wounded)

Baghdad 23 (11 Killed, 12 Wounded)

Salahaddin 43 (23 Killed, 20 Wounded)

43 people lost their lives and 51 were wounded. 5 Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), 15 civilians and 23 Hashd al-Shaabi lost their lives, and 7 ISF, 10 Hashd, and 34 civilians were injured. Nearly half of those occurred in Salahaddin that had 43 casualties.

Anbar had five incidents including two shoot outs with the security forces, four suicide bombers were killed, and a motorcycle bomb was discovered and dismantled in Fallujah before it was able to hit its target. The others all occurred in the west in Qaim by the Syrian border and Rutba close to the Syrian-Jordanian junction. The province used to be a prime battlefield with the insurgency, but the Islamic State has largely withdrawn from the area.

Likewise, Baghdad was the main terrorist target in the country. Now there are just low level shootings and a few IEDs. There was one exception as there was a shootout in Tarmiya in the north that killed 4 Hashd.

Most insurgent activity was concentrated in Diyala, Kirkuk, and Salahddin. In Diyala, there were two assaults upon checkpoints, and an attack upon a Hashd camp. In Kirkuk, there was a gun battle in the Hawija district, a mukhtar’s house was hit by an IED, a member of Iyad Allawi’s Wataniya had his house shot at, and a sound bomb went off at the HQ of the Turkmen Front. Finally, an army camp, a village, and a checkpoint, and some electricity towers were all attacked in Salahaddin. The Islamic State is rebuilding in the rural areas of all three of these governorates. They are said to be in control of many villages at night, and some during the day. Their attacks are meant to expand their presence by intimidating the local civilians and Iraqi forces, make people pay taxes, etc.

In Karbala, an ammunition dump belonging to the Al Abbas Combat Division blew up. The group claimed it was an act of sabotage. The Combat Division is loyal to Najaf and has had disputes with pro-Iran Hashd elements, but there was no word on who might be behind this incident.

There were 5 incidents in Ninewa. The most significant was a police commander was assassinated in Hamam al-Alil south of Mosul. Like Anbar and Baghdad, IS has largely withdrawn from this province and there is only sporadic attacks now.

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	7	9	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	4	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	13	1	1	-	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

Violence By Province Aug 8-14, 2018

Province	Violence
Anbar	5 Incidents 3 Shootings 5 Suicide Bombers Killed 1 Motorcycle Bomb Dismantled
Babil	1 Incident 2 Wounded 2 Hashd 1 IED
Baghdad	9 Incidents 11 Killed 4 Hashd 7 Civilians 12 Wounded 12 Civilians 5 Shootings 3 IEDs
Diyala	8 Incidents 3 Wounded 1 Hashd 2 Civilians 3 Shootings 4 IEDs 2 Mortars
Karbala	1 Incident 1 IED
Kirkuk	7 Incidents 3 Killed 3 Hashd 3 Wounded 1 Civilian 2 Hashd 3 Shootings 1 IED 1 Sound Bomb 1 Suicide Bomber Killed
Ninewa	5 Incidents 6 Killed 1 ISF 5 Civilians 11 Wounded 11 Civilians 1 Shooting 3 IEDs
Salahaddin	11 Incidents 23 Killed 3 Civilians 4 ISF 16 Hashd 20 Wounded 5 Hashd 7 ISF 8 Civilians 4 Shootings 10 IEDs

SOURCES

Agence France Presse, "ISIS militants in Iraq kill five people form same family," 8/11/18

Bas News, "IS Kills 14 Iraqi Soldiers, Shi'ite Militiamen," 8/12/18

- "IS Kills Three Hashd al-Shaabi Militiamen," 8/8/18

Ebraheem, Mohammed, "Iranian-backed PMFs foil Islamic State attack on security checkpoint in Diyala," Iraqi News, 8/14/18

- "Iraqi child wounded in Islamic State attack on security checkpoint in Diyala," Iraqi News, 8/13/18

- "Iraqi troops kill 14 Islamic State militants, destroy 4 armored vehicles in Anbar," Iraqi News, 8/8/18

- "Suicide bomber killed in clashes between border guards, IS terrorists in Anbar," Iraqi News, 8/8/18

Iraq Newspaper, "Bloody Battle Between The 3rd And The 4th Regiments Of The 22nd Brigade Led To Fall Of More Than 40 Dead And Wounded In Attack By Terrorist In The Pophras And The Pujars In Tarmiya," 8/9/18

- "Colonel Ali Al-Mousawi, Commander Of The Fourth Regiment 22 Brigade, Was Killed In A Terrorist Attack In Tarmiya, North Baghdad," 8/9/18

Al Forat, "URGENT A terrorist attack near a popular restaurant in Fallujah," 8/13/18

Al Ghad Press, "Security forces clashed with Daash members in the Tarmiya district north Baghdad," 8/8/18

Iraq Oil Report, "Insurgency continues targeting energy infrastructure," 8/8/18

Al Maalomah, "Four suicide bombers were killed trying to infiltrate areas of western Anbar," 8/11/18

NINA, "Residents Of A Village In Hawija Displaced Due To Threats Received From Daesh," 8/9/18

- "A sound bomb exploded near the headquarters of the Turkmen Front in Kirkuk," 8/12/18

Shafaaq News, "Gunmen attack a politician’s house in Kirkuk and exchange fire with guards," 8/10/18

- "Village attacked targeting a football field north of Tikrit," 8/11/8

Al Sumaria, "Al-Abbas Combat Team: The explosion of the ammunition store in Razzaza is an act of aggression aimed at destroying our weapons base," 8/10/18

Xinhua, "4 Iraqi soldiers killed in IS attack in central Iraq," 8/8/18

- "Security forces repel IS attack in eastern Iraq," 8/15/18