Security In Iraq May 8-14, 2019

(Iraqi News)

In April 2019 the Islamic State announced a new campaign. Every year the group launches a new effort that lasts from the spring through summer. So far the number of attacks have only slowly increased.

From May 8-14 there were 24 incidents in Iraq reported in the media. That was up from 18 the first week of the month, and the most since 41 from April 8-14. Kirkuk and Ninewa with 7 incidents each had the most of the six provinces that witnessed violence during the week.

Security Incidents In Iraq By Province

Province	May 1-7	May 8-14
Anbar	2	-
Babil	1	1
Baghdad	-	2
Diyala	5	4
Kirkuk	3	7
Ninewa	3	7
Salahaddin	4	3
TOTALS	18	24

Casualties In Iraq By Province

Province	May 1-7	May 8-14
Anbar	-	-
Babil	2 (2W)	3 (3W)
Baghdad	-	23 (9K, 14W)
Diyala	5 (2K, 3w)	5 (3K, 2W)
Kirkuk	11 (5K, 6W)	12 (4K, 8W)
Ninewa	3 (1K, 2W)	20 (10K, 10W)
Salahaddin	5 (1K, 4W)	9 (5K, 4W)
TOTALS	26 (9K, 17W)	72 (31K, 41W)

There were 31 deaths and 41 wounded during the week. That included 1 Hashd al-Shaabi, 3 Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), and 27 civilians that lost their lives and 7 ISF, 11 Hashd and 23 civilians that were injured. That was the most casualties since the second week of April. Baghdad had the most casualties in the country with 23 followed by 20 in Ninewa.

For the second week in a row there was an attack in Babil’s Jurf al-Sakhr district in the northeast. Like almost all incidents this involved an IED aimed at the Hashd. The area has no civilians because they were all forced out by the security forces and not allowed to return because the district is along the main highway to Najaf and Karbala used by pilgrims going to the holy sites in those two provinces. Overall, violence has been down in Babil since the last IS spring-summer campaign in 2018. The recent attacks could be another sign that the new operation has started.

There were just two incidents in Baghdad, but one was surrounded in controversy. The media reported that a suicide bomber hit a market in Sadr City killing 8 and wounding 12. Then Baghdad Operations Command claimed the media was repeating a fake news report promoted by the Islamic State. The problem was both the media and ISF talked about the incident and casualties before IS said it was responsible. Then there was talk that a bombing had occurred but there were no casualties. Then the residents claimed there was no incident at all. The contradictory stories makes it unclear what if anything happened. If IS did commit the attack it would be yet another sign that a new offensive has started because the organization has only be committing small shootings and IED attacks on the outskirts of the province. This would be the first strike into the heart of the city in months.

Attacks were up in the core IS operational area of Diyala, Kirkuk, Ninewa and Salahaddin. In Diyala there were 4 incidents including a shooting and then an ambush of the security forces that arrived at the scene in the Khanaqin district in the northeast, a tactic that started last month. A checkpoint was shot at and IS burned farms in the Qara Tappa district in the north likely to extort money out of the locals. Kirkuk had 7 incidents including an attack upon a checkpoint and an IED aimed at a police station. Ninewa also had 7 incidents including the home invasion and murder of a mukhtar in the Hamam al-Alil district in the south, a gun battle with the security forces, an attack upon a Hashd house, and three suicide bombers killed in a security sweep. There were also continued reports of IS activities in the province. That included the Ninewa Operations Command announcing plans to arm 50 villages in rural areas to deter IS attacks. A parliamentarian telling the press that the insurgents were making a return to the governorate. Locals officials in the Makhmour district saying that the Islamists were threatening towns and burning crops to force farmers to pay taxes. Finally, the Associated Press embedded with an ISF unit in Badush and heard stories of IS hiding in caves in the district, kidnapping people, killing civilians, setting up ambushes and extorting money from the locals. The security forces were doing a bad job trying to counter the insurgents with arbitrary arrests and torturing detainees. Finally in Salahaddin there were 3 incidents that included a home invasion, an attack upon a town where the local mill was burned, and three suicide bombers were killed in a government sweep. These are the typical incidents in these four provinces every month. The goal is to assert IS’s control over the rural areas, set up bases, train cadres, revive its finances, and increasingly challenge local officials and the security forces.

Islamic State Activity in Iraq 2018-19

Anbar	Shootings (Totals)	IEDs/ Sticky Bombs (Totals)	Gun Battles	Attacks on Checkpoints	Attacks on Mukhtars/ Sheikhs	Kidnappings	Suicide Bombers	Car Bombs
2018 Totals	45	67	13	4	6	5	7	3
Jan 2019	6	4	1	-	2	1	1	1
Feb	10	11	4	1	1	4	-	-
Mar	2	1	-	-	-	-	-	-
Apr	1	8	1	-	-	1	-	1
May	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2019 Totals	20	24	6	1	3	6	1	2

Diyala	Shootings (Totals)	IEDs/ Sticky Bombs (Totals)	Gun Battles	Attacks on Checkpoints	Attacks on Mukhtars/ Sheikhs	Kidnappings	Attacks on Towns	Suicide Bombers	Car Bombs
2018 Totals	219	198	47	43	5	13	25	3	1
Jan 2019	21	2	3	8	-	-	1	-	-
Feb	18	2	5	7	-	-	3	-	-
Mar	7	6	1	2	-	-	-	-	-
Apr	13	15	2	4	1	-	1	-	-
May	3	5	1	2	-	-	1	-	-
2019 Totals	62	30	12	23	1	-	6	-	-

Kirkuk	Shootings (Totals)	IEDs/ Sticky Bombs (Totals)	Gun Battles	Attacks on Checkpoints	Attacks on Mukhtars/ Sheikhs	Kidnappings	Attacks on Towns	Suicide Bombers	Car Bombs
2018 Totals	172	182	39	18	10	14	29	9	6
Jan 2019	8	17	-	4	2	3	-	-	1
Feb	9	5	3	-	-	2	1	-	-
Mar	5	11	2	1	2	-	2	-	-
Apr	5	9	3	-	-	-	-	-	-
May	6	4	-	2	1	-	-	-	-
2019 Totals	33	46	8	7	5	5	3	-	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
2018 Totals	139	74	43	7	5	6	6	2	3
Jan 2019	6	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-
Feb	8	3	2	2	-	-	1	-	1
Mar	6	1	3	-	-	-	1	-	1
Apr	6	6	1	-	1	2	2	-	-
May	6	2	1	-	1	2	-	-	-
2019 Totals	32	12	7	2	3	4	4	-	2

Salahaddin	Shootings (Totals)	IEDs/ Sticky Bombs (Totals)	Gun Battles	Attacks on Checkpoints	Attacks on Mukhtars/ Sheikhs	Kidnappings	Attacks on Towns	Suicide Bombers	Car Bombs
2018 Totals	110	102	41	18	1	16	4	9	5
Jan 2019	5	5	3	1	-	3	-	-	1
Feb	7	11	3	-	-	2	1	1	-
Mar	3	5	2	-	-	-	-	-	1
Apr	2	2	1						1
May	3	1	2
2019 Totals	20	24	11	1	-	5	1	1	3

(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	1 (1 – Salahaddin)	1 (1 – Ninewa/Mosul)	2
Mar	-	1 (1 – Ninewa/Mosul)	1
Apr	-	2 (1 – Anbar 1 - Salahaddin)	2
May	1 (1 – Baghdad)	-	1

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	29/28	76	30
Feb 8-14	24	26	18
Feb 15-21	40	112	12
Feb 22-28	25	36	70
FEB	118/ 117 by IS	250 by IS (115 Violent Deaths)	130 by IS
Mar 1-7	13	22	45
Mar 8-14	19/18	75/10	37
Mar 15-21	12/11	66/37	21/11
Mar 22-28	13/12	8/5	1
Mar 29-31	6	8	7
MAR	63/ 61 by IS	179/ 147 by IS (54 Violent Deaths)	111/ 101 by IS
Apr 1-7	20	22	13
Apr 8-14	41	28	42
Apr 15-21	17/16	9/8	26
Apr 22-28	19/18	45/10	15
Apr 29-30	2	1	4
APR	99 by IS/97	105 by IS (69 Violent Deaths)	100 by IS
May 1-7	18/17	9	17
May 8-14	24	31	41

Violence By Province May 8-14, 2019

Province	Violence
Babil	1 Incident 3 Wounded 3 Hashd 1 IED
Baghdad	2 Incidents 9 Killed 9 Civilians 14 Wounded 14 Civilians 1 IED 1 Suicide Bomber
Diyala	4 Incidents 3 Killed 1 Hashd 2 Civilians 2 Wounded 2 Hashd 2 Shootings 1 IED
Kirkuk	7 Incidents 4 Killed 2 Civilians 2 ISF 8 Wounded 1 Civilian 7 ISF 3 Shootings 4 IEDs
Ninewa	7 Incidents 10 Killed 10 Civilians 10 Wounded 4 Civilians 6 Hashd 5 Shootings 1 IED 3 Suicide Bombers Killed
Salahaddin	3 Incidents 5 Killed 1 ISF 4 Civilians 4 Wounded 4 Civilians 2 Shootings 3 Suicide Bombers Killed

SOURCES

Adel, Loaa, "IS militants attack house, kill 8 persons in right coast of Mosul," Iraqi News, 5/9/19

AIN, “Deputy warns of the return of the security forces to the province of Ninewa,” 5/11/19

Baghdad Post, "Killed and wounded in an armed attack on the house of Salahaddin," 5/8/19

- "Three members of the militia were injured when a bomb exploded," 5/14/19

Bas News, “IS Threatens to Set Fire to Kurdish Farms in Makhmour: Residents,” 5/12/19

Ebraheem, Mohammed, "3 people dead, 4 wounded in armed attack in Iraq's Salahuddin," Iraqi News, 5/8/19

- "Iraqi troops kill 3 Islamic State suicide bombers in Salahuddin," Iraqi News, 5/12/19

- "Iraqi troops kill three Islamic State suicide bombers in Mosul," Iraqi News, 5/13/19

Al Forat, “Arming 50 villages in Ninewa to repel terrorist attacks,” 5/9/19

Iraq Newspaper, "A Daesh Supporter Announced The Targeting Of Omar Hadi And Mohammed Bakawi In Mosul," 5/13/19

Janssen, Bram, “Iraq hunts IS remnants spreading fear in former ‘caliphate,’” Associated Press, 5/13/19

NINA, “Daesh Begins An Economic War In Liberated Areas In Diyala,” 5/14/19

- "The death of a federal police officer from injuries sustained north of Kirkuk," 5/12/19

- "A Fighter From The Tribal Mobilization Forces Killed In A Terrorist Attack, North-East Baquba," 5/13/19

- "Federal Police Member Killed And An Officer Escapes From An Assassination Attempt In Kirkuk," 5/10/19

Rudaw, "Gunmen kill 5, wound 2 including Mukhtar in unstable Mosul," 5/9/19

Sotaliraq, "Two people were killed in a chase operation in north Salahaddin province," 5/10/19

- "Two people were killed in a clash between the crowd and Daesh in Ninewa," 5/10/19

Xinhau, "2 civilians killed, 12 IS militants arrested in Iraq," 5/13/19

- "8 killed, 2 injured in two IS attacks in Iraq," 5/9/19

- "8 killed, 12 wounded in suicide bombing in eastern Baghdad," 5/10/19