Security In Iraq Nov 22-28, 2018

(Shafaaq News)

Violence continued to decline across Iraq at the end of November. There were the fewest reported incidents in any week of the year during the fourth week of the month.  

From November 22-28 only 28 incidents were reported in Iraq. That was the lowest figure in 2018. The previous low was 31 incidents from October 21-28. No province was in double figures in incidents with Diyala leading the country with 8. For most weeks Baghdad has had the most incidents, but this time it was third with just 5.

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

Anbar 1

Basra 1

Salahaddin 1

Kirkuk 2

Kurdistan 4

Baghdad 5

Ninewa 6

Diyala 8

Casualties In Iraq By Province Nov 22-28, 2018

Basra 1 (1 W)

Salahaddin 1 (1 K)

Kirkuk 3 (1 K, 2 W)

Anbar 4 (4 W)

Baghdad 10 (6 K, 4 W)

Kurdistan 10 (10 K)

Diyala 14 (10 K, 4 W)

Ninewa 24 (9 K, 15 W)

With the low number of incidents there were few casualties as well. 37 deaths were reported made up of 4 Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), 8 Hashd al-Shaabi, 10 Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), and 15 civilians. Another 30 were wounded consisting of 4 Hashd, 8 ISF, and 18 civilians. Ninewa had the most casualties with 24.

During the week Ankara claimed it killed 10 members of the PKK in four air strikes. Every week for several months now Turkey has regularly bombed PKK positions in northern Kurdistan.

For a few weeks the Islamic State picked up its operations in Anbar, although the number of incidents remained low. That has now ended. There was just one attack in the province during the week when an IED hit some Iraqi soldiers near the Jordanian border, wounding four.

Violence has also fallen off in central Iraq. Earlier in the year Diyala, Kirkuk and Salahaddin were all averaging double digits in incidents. This week there was only a total of 16 incidents across all three. In Diyala, a Municipal Ministry worker was assassinated, and a soldier was killed by a sniper at a checkpoint. In Kirkuk, two men kidnapped by IS were freed. In Salahaddin a school principal was kidnapped and then his body was found, but it was not clear that this was done by militants. Central Iraq remains the core base for the rebuilding insurgency. Their attacks have always ebbed and flowed and this is one of those down periods.

IS is making its presence known in Ninewa again. There were 6 incidents there including two attacks upon villages, and a bus being hit by an IED that killed 4 and wounded 7. This uptick in violence only started a few weeks ago.

Islamic State Activity in Anbar 2018

Anbar	Shootings (Totals)	IEDs/ Sticky Bombs (Totals)	Gun Battles	Attacks on Checkpoints	Attacks on Mukhtars/ Sheikhs	Kidnappings	Suicide Bombers	Car Bombs
Jun	4	3	2	-	-	1	-	-
Jul	3	5	1	-	-	-	-	-
Aug	4	4	2	1	-	-	-	1
Sep	3	8	-	-	-	-	2	-
Oct	9	5	3	1	1	2	1	1
Nov	1	3	-	-	1	1	-	-

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	17	18	2	2	1	1	3	3	-	-
Sep	20	12	5	1	-	2	5	5	-	-
Oct	11	22	2	-	1	1	-	4	-	-
Nov	16	10	5	2	1	-	4	3	-	-

Kirkuk	Shootings (Totals)	IEDs/ Sticky Bombs (Totals)	Gun Battles	Attacks on Checkpoints	Attacks on Mukhtars/ Sheikhs	Kidnappings	Attacks on Towns	Mortars Rockets	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	20	2	1	2	-	-	2	-	1
Sep	14	25	2	2	1	3	4	2	-	-
Oct	16	29	1	4	4	1	4	2	-	1
Nov	6	7	2	-	-	2	-	1	-	-

Salahaddin	Shootings (Totals)	IEDs/ Sticky Bombs (Totals)	Gun Battles	Attacks on Checkpoints	Attacks on Mukhtars/ Sheikhs	Kidnappings	Attacks on Towns	Mortars Rockets	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	9	15	1	3	-	1	1	1	1	-
Sep	5	10	1	1	-	-	1	1	3	1
Oct	2	9	1	-	-	1	-	1	1	-
Nov	4	7	2	1	-	1	-	1	-	2

Islamic State Activity in Ninewa 2018

Ninewa	Shootings (Totals)	IEDs/ Sticky Bombs (Totals)	Gun Battles	Attacks on Checkpoints	Attacks on Mukhtars/ Sheikhs	Kidnappings	Attacks on Towns	Suicide Bombers	Car Bombs
Jun	7	2	3	1	-	-	-	-	-
Jul	9	9	1	1	1	1	2	-	-
Aug	9	9	2	-	-	1	1	-	-
Sep	8	3	2	-	-	-	-	1	-
Oct	13	5	-	1	-	1	-	-	1
Nov	9	7	2	1	-	-	3	-	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)

Suicide-Car Bombs In Iraq 2018

Month	Suicide Bombers	Car Bombs	Totals
Jan	7 (1- Diyala, 3 – Baghdad, 3 - Kirkuk)	6 (1- Anbar, 1 – Diyala, 1 – Kirkuk, 1 – Salahaddin, 2 - Babil)	13
Feb	4 (1 – Anbar 1 – Diyala 1 – Kirkuk 1 - Ninewa)	-	4
Mar	2 (1 – Kirkuk 1 - Salahaddin)	1 (1 – Kirkuk)	3
Apr	4 (1 - Salahaddin 3 – Anbar)	1 (1 – Kirkuk)	5
May	8 (1 – Diyala 1 - Salahaddin) 2 – Baghdad 4 - Kirkuk)	-	8
Jun		1 (1 – Salahaddin)	1
Jul	1 (1 – Salahaddin)	1 (1 – Kirkuk)	2
Aug	1 (1 – Salahaddin)	2 (1 – Anbar, 1 – Kirkuk)	3
Sep	6 (1 – Ninewa) 2 – Anbar 3 – Salahaddin)	2 (1 – Kirkuk 1 – Salahaddin)	8
Oct	2 (1 - Anbar 1 – Salahaddin)	3 (1 – Anbar 1 – Kirkuk 1 - Ninewa)	5
Nov	-	3 (1 - Ninewa 2 – Salahaddin)	3

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
Aug 22-28	42	29	64
Aug 29-31	33	69	44
AUG	216	224 (209 Violent Deaths)	234
Sep 1-7	45	46	61
Sep 8-14	57	67	127
Sep 15-21	50	93	71
Sep 22-28	47	27	33
Sep 29-30	11	20	29
SEP	210	253 (195 Violent Deaths)	321
Oct 1-7	60	88	94
Oct 8-14	50	169	48
Oct 15-21	56	88	37
Oct 22-28	31	28	54
Oct 29-31	25	10	24
OCT	222	383 (193 Violent Deaths)	257
Nov 1-7	38	80	46
Nov 8-14	42	112	19
Nov 15-21	36	56	29
Nov 22-28	28	37	30

Violence By Province Nov 22-28, 2018

Anbar	1 Incident 4 Wounded 4 ISF 1 IED
Baghdad	5 Incidents 6 Killed 6 Civilians 4 Wounded 4 Civilians 2 Shootings 1 Sticky Bomb 1 Grenade
Basra	1 Incident 1 Wounded 1 ISF 1 Shooting
Diyala	8 Incidents 10 Killed 1 ISF 3 Civilians 6 Hashd 4 Wounded 2 Civilians 2 ISF 5 Shootings 3 IEDs
Kirkuk	2 Incidents 1 Killed 1 ISF 2 Wounded 2 Civilians 1 Shooting
Kurdistan	4 Incidents 10 Killed 10 PKK 4 Turkish Air Strikes
Ninewa	6 Incidents 9 Killed 2 Hashd 2 ISF 5 Civilians 15 Wounded 1 ISF 4 Hashd 10 Civilians 2 Shootings 4 IEDs
Salahaddin	1 Incident 1 Killed 1 Civilian 1 Shooting

SOURCES

Anadolu Agency, "Turkish jets 'neutralize' six terrorists in northern Iraq," 11/25/18

Ebraheem, Mohammed "11 Iraqi students killed, wounded as bomb blast targets school bus in Mosul," Iraqi News, 11/22/18

- "Islamic State sniper shoots Iraqi soldier dead near Diyala checkpoint," Iraqi News, 11/28/18

Al Forat, "The liberation of two abductees and the destruction of a Daash tunnel in Kirkuk," 11/25/18

Iraq Newspaper, "The Popular Crowd Is Now Repulsing An Attack On Daash Terrorists Near Shirqat In Mosul," 11/22/18

Al Maalomah, "Gunmen assassinate western employee in Baquba," 11/24/18

- "Jordanian troops discover four Iraqi soldiers wounded in an explosion inside the Iraqi border," 11/23/18

Mehmet, Fatih Hafiz, "12 PKK terrorists 'neutralized' in N. Iraq, SE Turkey," Anadolu Agency, 11/27/18

NINA, "A Mukhar killed by gunmen fire west of Mosul," 11/25/18

Sotaliraq, "The body of a school principal was found hours after he was abducted in Salahaddin," 1128/18