Security In Iraq Feb 8-14, 2019

(Shafaaq News)

There was another week with few security incidents in Iraq. For almost four months now the country has averaged 20-30 security events each week and the second week of February was no different.

There were 24 incidents reported in the media from February 8-14. All 24 were likely by the Islamic State. The previous week there were 29 incidents, 25 of which were probable IS attacks. Kirkuk had the most incidents at 8 followed by 5 in Diyala.

Security Incidents In Iraq By Province

Province	Feb 1-7	Feb 8-14
Anbar	4	3
Babil	1	-
Baghdad	-	2
Diyala	8	5
Kirkuk	3	8
Ninewa	4	2
Salahaddin	9	4
TOTALS	29	24

Casualties In Iraq By Province

Province	Feb 1-7	Feb 8-14
Anbar	3 (2K, 1)	7 (4K, 3W)
Baghdad	-	2 (2K)
Diyala	7 (3K, 4W)	5 (2K, 3W)
Kirkuk	2 (1K, 1W)	10 (6K, 4W)
Ninewa	65 (64K, 1W)	-
Salahaddin	29 (6K, 23W)	20 (12K, 8W)
TOTALS	106 (76K, 30W)	44 (26K, 18W)

26 people died during the week. That included 8 civilians, 8 Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), and 10 Hashd al-Shaabi. Another 18 were wounded made up of 3 civilians, 7 ISF, and 8 Hashd. Salahaddin had the most casualties with 20.

The number of incidents remained extremely low in Anbar. There were just three, all IEDs. Those left 1 civilian and 3 ISF dead and 1 civilian and 2 soldiers wounded. Despite the continued lack of attacks, Anbar is the province most likely to see an uptick in activity due to the history the group has there and its location next to Syria.

Baghdad is almost bereft of IS activity. The week before there were no attacks, and the second week of February there were only two, both shootings in the south. The militants have almost completely withdrawn from the capital province. To remain relevant, to challenge the government, and to earn more money however, it must eventually move back into Baghdad.

Diyala, Kirkuk, Salahaddin and to a lesser extent Ninewa are the main focus of the Islamic State as it rebuilds. There were 5 incidents in Diyala including an attack upon a checkpoint, a shootout with the militants, mortars were fired at a town and a suicide bomber was killed. These happened in Khanaqin in the northeast, Muqtadiya in the southwest and Qara Tappa in the center. IS continues to move around within the province. Khanaqin and Muqtadiya have been favorite targets for around a month now. Before the group was hitting the Abu Saida district in the center, and now moved over to Qara Tappa. Kirkuk had 8 incidents. There were two shoot outs, an IED hit a patrol, a town was mortared, and two people were kidnapped and executed. These occurred in three of the provinces four districts. In Ninewa, two suicide bombers were killed in Baaj and a suicide car bomber was arrested in Sinjar both in the west. Finally, in Salahaddin three men who were kidnapped were found dead and there were four IEDs including a convoy being hit in the Samarra district that left 8 Hashd dead and 7 wounded. These provinces remain the heart of the Iraqi insurgency. It is asserting control over rural towns, challenging the local security forces, collecting taxes, and kidnapping and ransoming people. It eventually has to move out of the countryside and has already attacked urban centers such as Kirkuk city and Tikrit.

The government is finally taking new actions to try to address this threat. Baghdad and Irbil have come to a tentative agreement to allow the Peshmerga back into some of the disputed territories, which the federal authorities took back in 2017. The Kurdish forces for instance, have been allowed back into Tuz Kharmato in eastern Salahaddin. The central government does not have the manpower to protect all of these areas, so the Kurds will help address that shortcoming. A lot more needs to be done, such as effective counterinsurgency operations, and addressing the root causes of the insurgency.

Islamic State Activity in Iraq 2018-19

Anbar	Shootings (Totals)	IEDs/ Sticky Bombs (Totals)	Gun Battles	Attacks on Checkpoints	Attacks on Mukhtars/ Sheikhs	Mortars/ Rockets	Kidnappings	Suicide Bombers	Car Bombs
Jan 2018	8	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	1
Feb	3	8	1	-	-	-	-	1	-
Mar	6	15	3	2	-	1	1	-	-
Apr	1	5	1	-	-	-	-	3	-
May	2	7	-	-	1	-	-	-	-
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	-	-
Dec	1	4	-	-	1	-	-	-	-
Jan 2019	6	4	1	-	2	-	1	1	1
Feb	2	3	-	1	1	1	-	-	-

Diyala	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 2018	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	17	13	5	2	1	1	4	4	-	-
Dec	15	10	3	3	-	1	1	2	-	-
Jan 2019	21	2	3	8	-	-	1	5	-	-
Feb	9	1	4	3	-	-	-	1	-	-

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 2018	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	7	7	2	-	-	2	-	1	-	-
Dec	8	6	-	-	1	3	1	2	-	-
Jan 2019	8	17	-	4	2	3	-	2	-	1
Feb	5	3	2	-	-	1	-	1	-	-

Ninewa	Shootings (Totals)	IEDs/ Sticky Bombs (Totals)	Gun Battles	Attacks on Checkpoints	Attacks on Mukhtars/ Sheikhs	Kidnappings	Attacks on Towns	Suicide Bombers	Car Bombs
Jan 2018	18	8	7	1	1	-	-	-	-
Feb	19	7	8	1	-	1	-	1	-
Mar	20	6	7	1	-	1	-	-	-
Apr	8	6	4	-	-	-	-	-	-
May	11	6	6	-	-	-	-	-	-
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
Dec	8	6	1	-	3	1	-	-	1
Jan 2019	6	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-
Feb	1	1	-	-	-	-	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 2018	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	5	7	2	2	-	1	-	1	-	2
Dec	4	-	2	1	-	1	-	1	-	-
Jan 2019	5	5	3	1	-	3	-	-	-	1
Feb	4	8	2	-	-	2	-	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 2018-19

Month	Suicide Bombers	Car Bombs	Totals
Jan	7 (1- Diyala, 3 – Baghdad/Baghdad, 3 - Kirkuk)	6 (1- Anbar, 1 – Diyala, 1 – Kirkuk, 1 – Salahaddin, 2 - Babil)	13
Feb	4 (1 – Anbar/Ramadi 1 – Diyala 1 – Kirkuk 1 - Ninewa)	-	4
Mar	2 (1 – Kirkuk/Kirkuk 1 - Salahaddin)	1 (1 – Kirkuk)	3
Apr	4 (1 - Salahaddin 3 – Anbar)	1 (1 – Kirkuk/Kirkuk)	5
May	8 (1 – Diyala 1 - Salahaddin) 2 – Baghdad/1 - Baghdad 4 - Kirkuk)	-	8
Jun		1 (1 – Salahaddin/Tikrit)	1
Jul	1 (1 – Salahaddin/Tikrit)	1 (1 – Kirkuk/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/Fallujah 1 – Salahaddin)	3 (1 – Anbar/Fallujah 1 – Kirkuk/Kirkuk 1 - Ninewa)	5
Nov	-	3 (1 – Ninewa/Mosul 2 – Salahaddin/Tikrit)	3
Dec	-	1 (1 – Ninewa)	1
Jan	1 (1 – Anbar)	3 (1 – Anbar 1 – Kirkuk 1 – Salahaddin/Tikrit)	4
Feb	-	-	-

Security In Iraq 2018-19

Week	Security Incidents (Total/By IS)	Dead (Total/By IS)	Wounded (Total/By IS)
Jan 1-7	62/60	45	63
Jan 8-14	58/56	58/56	66/63
Jan 15-21	62/59	151	151
Jan 22-28	59/51	140/136	65/63
Jan 29-31	24	21	21
JAN 2018	265/ 250 by IS	417/ 409 by IS (196 Violent Deaths)	366/ 361 by IS
Feb 1-7	58/56	192/141	62/60
Feb 8-14	57	58	91
Feb 15-21	53/52	343	43
Feb 22-28	46/44	38/37	70/68
FEB	214/ 209 by IS	631/ 579 by IS (215 Violent Deaths)	266/ 262 by IS
Mar 1-7	68/64	115/108	79/77
Mar 8-14	52	75	59
Mar 15-21	64/59	165/119	98
Mar 22-28	77/64	210/87	61/60
Mar 29-31	19/18	26/25	34
MAR	280/ 257 by IS	591/ 414 by IS (446 Violent Deaths)	331/ 328 by IS
Apr 1-7	38/34	172/140	27/25
Apr 8-14	60/52	173/136	81/72
Apr 15-21	43/35	63/18	72/70
Apr 22-28	40/31	60/30	39/33
Apr 29-30	12/11	14/11	4
APR	193/ 163 by IS	482/ 335 by IS (236 Violent Deaths)	223/ 204 by IS
May 1-7	45/39	52/43	55/54
May 8-14	55/51	68/46	49
May 15-21	35/32	55/26	80/75
May 22-28	49/46	72/62	51/49
May 29-31	16/13	39/30	15
MAY	200/ 181 by IS	286/ 207 by IS (261 Violent Deaths)	250/ 242 by IS
Jun 1-7	50/44	96/87	29/28
Jun 8-14	67/59	107/47	88
Jun 15-21	40/35	82/28	19
Jun 22-28	45/44	53/38	62
Jun 29-30	17/15	21/16	14
JUN	219/ 197 by IS	359/ 216 by IS (315 Violent Deaths)	212/ 211 by IS
Jul 1-7	50/49	56/52	90
Jul 8-14	42/39	56/47	31
Jul 15-21	50/45	59/42	63
Jul 22-28	29/24	61/53	19/15
Jul 29-31	23/21	25/13	11
JUL	194/ 178 by IS	257/ 207 by IS (212 Violent Deaths)	214/ 210 by IS
Aug 1-7	43/39	49/45	30/29
Aug 8-14	43/42	38	44
Aug 15-21	38/35	24/21	40/37
Aug 22-28	35/31	25/19	61
Aug 29-31	27/24	68/30	43
AUG	186/ 171 by IS	204/ 153 by IS (189 Violent Deaths)	218/ 214 by IS
Sep 1-7	38	44	54
Sep 8-14	48/43	63/55	127
Sep 15-21	44/38	90/74	70
Sep 22-28	36/33	22/17	27/26
Sep 29-30	9/6	19/10	29/25
SEP	175/ 158 by IS	237/ 200 by IS (179 Violent Deaths)	307/ 302 by IS
Oct 1-7	54/49	85/25	92
Oct 8-14	43/41	161/152	41
Oct 15-21	54/50	87/72	35
Oct 22-28	24/23	24/20	53
Oct 29-31	23	10	24
OCT	198/ 186 by IS	367/ 279 by IS (177 Violent Deaths)	245 by IS
Nov 1-7	32/31	75/69	36
Nov 8-14	39/31	111/63	19
Nov 15-21	30/27	51/43	29
Nov 22-28	26/21	35/25	30
Nov 29-30	9/8	4	27
NOV	136/ 118 by IS	276/ 204 by IS (183 Violent Deaths_	141 by IS
Dec 1-7	22/15	21/8	11
Dec 8-14	22	15	22
Dec 15-21	23/21	23/16	17
Dec 22-28	30/28	24/18	37
Dec 29-31	15/14	225/220	4
DEC	112/ 100 by IS	308/ 277 by IS (96 Violent Deaths)	91 by IS
Jan 1-7	32/31	17/10	24
Jan 8-14	32/30	97/94	53
Jan 15-21	22/18	17/11	16/14
Jan 22-28	27/22	36/17	31
Jan 29-31	12	7	6
JAN	125/ 114 by IS	174/ 139 by IS (108 Violent Deaths)	130/ 128 by IS
Feb 1-7	29/25	76	30
Feb 8-14	24	26	18

Violence By Province Feb 8-14, 2019

Province	Violence
Anbar	3 Incidents 4 Killed 1 Civilian 3 ISF 3 Wounded 1 Civilian 2 ISF 3 IEDs
Baghdad	2 Incidents 2 Killed 2 Civilians 2 Shootings
Diyala	5 Incidents 2 Killed 2 ISF 3 Wounded 1 Civilian 2 ISF 2 Shootings 1 Grenade 1 Mortar 1 Suicide Bomber Killed
Kirkuk	8 Incidents 6 Killed 2 Civilians 2 Hashd 2 ISF 4 Wounded 1 Civilian 3 ISF 5 Shootings 1 IED 1 Mortar 1 Grenade
Ninewa	2 Incidents 2 Suicide Bombers Killed 1 Suicide Car Bomber Arrested
Salahaddin	4 Incidents 12 Killed 1 ISF 3 Civilians 8 Hashd 8 Wounded 8 Hashd 1 Shooting 4 iEDs

SOURCES

Al-Amir, Hussein, "Daesh executes three brothers in northern Iraq: Police," Anadolu Agency, 2/8/19

Baghdad Post, "Gunmen kill a civilian south of Baghdad and flee to an unknown destination," 2/13/19

- "Security forces thwart Daesh terrorist suicide attack in Sinjar," 2/12/19

Bas News, "IS Kills, Wounds Three Iraqi Policemen," 2/9/19

- "Two IS Suicide Bombers Killed in Mosul," 2/11/19

Buratha News, "Foiled attempted infiltration of Daesh terrorists west of Kirkuk," 2/13/19

Ebraheem, Mohammed, "IS militants kill Iraqi border guard, wound another in Diyala province," Iraqi News, 2/11/19

Al Forat, "URGENT A terrorist attack near Muqtadiya was stopped and two policemen were killed and wounded," 2/13/19

Iraq Newspaper, "A Terrorist Suicide Bomber Killed In Khanaqin," 2/11/19

Al Maalomah, "Death and wounding of four soldiers when a bomb exploded in western Ramadi," 2/9/19

- "An explosive device kills a family of farmers while collecting truffles in the wetlands," 2/10/19

- "The martyrdom of an associate in the civil defense when a bomb exploded in western Anbar," 2/8/19

NINA, "Daesh Attacks A Village West Of Kirkuk," 2/8/19

- "Daesh executed two citizens after being kidnapped south of Kirkuk," 2/13/19

- "Two mortar shells landed on a liberated area northeast of Baquba," 2/14/19

- "Two security personnel killed and wounded west of Kirkuk," 2/10/19

NRT, “Peshmerga Commander Denes Troops Moved To Tuz Khurmatu,” 2/11/19

Al Sumaria, "Civilian killed by armed attack south of Baghdad," 2/12/19

Xinhua, "8 Hashd Shaabi members killed in bomb attack in central Iraq," 2/14/19