Security In Iraq Dec 15-21, 2022

After 12 police were killed in an Islamic State attack in Kirkuk the media came alive again about the Iraqi insurgency. There were reports about its return. How to counter the threat and more. The third week of December had the most casualties since the spring but the number of attacks is still at an all-time low showing the weakness of the movement.

 

There were just 6 security incidents in Iraq reported in the media from December 15-21. Those took place in Diyala (2), Kirkuk (2), and Ninewa (2). One was an old IED discovered by children in Ninewa so there were only 5 attacks during the week. For 32 of the 47 weeks of the year incidents have been in single digits.

 

IS said it is conducting a revenge campaign after it announced the death of its leader who was killed a few weeks ago. The fact that it hasn’t been able to increase its operations at all is just another sign of how weak the movement is.

 

There were a total of 44 casualties during the week. 29 were killed made up of 12 civilians and 17 members of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF).  Another 15 were wounded consisting of 5 ISF and 10 civilians. 44 was the most weekly casualties since April when the Islamic State was conducting its annual offensive. The high casualties started with the attack in southern Kirkuk that killed 12 police. It appears that was caused by blowing up a fuel tanker truck rather than the intensity of the attack. A village was attacked in northern Diyala that also left 8 dead and 7 wounded. Those two events raised the overall casualty figures.

 

Of the five attacks by the Islamic State during the week only two were offensive. Those were the above mentioned attacks on the police in Kirkuk and assault on a Diyala village. Even then those were in line with the Islamic State’s standard operations which are aimed at keeping the government and civilians out of their areas.

 

Security Incidents In Iraq By Province

Province	Dec 1-7	Dec 8-14	Dec 15-21
Babil	4	-	-
Baghdad	2	1	-
Diyala	-	-	2
Karbala	1		-
Kirkukk	-	2	2
Ninewa	4/1 Pro-Iran	2	2
Salahaddin	2	1	-
TOTAL	13/1	6	6

 

Casualties In Iraq By Province

Province	Dec 1-7	Dec 8-14	Dec 15-21
Babil	7 (2K, 5W)	-	-
Baghdad	3 (2K, 1W)	7 (4K, 3W)	-
Diyala	-	-	17 (10K, 7W)
Karbala	5 (1K, 4W)		-
Kirkuk	-	4 (1K, 3W)	17 (15K, 2W)
Ninewa	-	3 (1K, 2W)	10 (4K, 6W)
Salahaddin	2 (1K, 1W)	1 (1K)	-
TOTAL	17 (6K, 11W)	15 (7K, 8W)	44 (29K, 15W)

 

Security In Iraq 2022

Week	Security Incidents (Total/By IS)	Dead (Total/By IS)	Wounded (Total/By IS)
Jan 1-7	18/9	3	4
Jan 8-14	35/21	3	18
Jan 15-21	12/5	17	12
Jan 22-28	16/3	8	19
Jan 29-31	6/2	2	6
JAN	87/41	33	59
Feb 1-7	11/3	1	10
Feb 8-14	14/6	8	3
Feb 15-21	9/1	-	11
Feb 22-28	8/4	1	5
FEB	42/14	10	29
Mar 1-7	7/3	1	-
Mar 8-14	18/3/1	6	5
Mar 15-21	10/4	5	6
Mar 22-28	6/1	7	4
Mar 29-31	4/1	-	5
MAR	46/12/1	19	21
Apr 1-7	16/8	-	6
Apr 8-14	21/7	8	25
Apr 15-21	22/2	10	22
Apr 22-28	44/4	14	44
Apr 29-30	6/1	2	6
APR	111/22	34	103
May 1-7	31/3	8	25
May 8-14	9/2	2	7
May 15-21	18/6	10	6
May 22-28	13/1	21	11
May 29-31	2/1	-	2
MAY	73/13	41	51
Jun 1-7	6/2	-	8
Jun 8-14	12/4	1	9
Jun 15-21	10/2	5	2
Jun 22-28	12/6	1	14
Jun 29-30	-	-	-
JUN	40/14	7	33
Jul 1-7	7/1	6	11
Jul 8-14	3	-	2
Jul 15-21	11/2	14	16
Jul 22-28	18/7	9	21
Jul 29-31	4	4	4
JUL	43/6	33	54
Aug 1-7	9/1	6	15
Aug 8-14	14	2	14
Aug 15-21	7/2	-	6
Aug 22-28	23/4	14	15
Aug 29-31	4	2	4
AUG	57/7/1	24	54
Sep 1-7	11/1	3	20
Sep 8-14	5	-	12
Sep 15-21	12	4	14
Sep 22-28	10/2 M	2	16
Sep 29-30	3/1 M	-	2
SEP	41/1/3 M	9	64
Oct 1-7	9/2 M	6	16
Oct 8-14	8/2/1 M	5	19
Oct 15-21	6	4	7
Oct 22-28	3	2	1
Oct 29-31	2	-	2
OCT	28/2/3 M	17	45
Nov 1-7	7	1	3
Nov 8-14	6	1	8
Nov 15-21	8	7	17
Nov 22-28	2	1	-
Nov 29-30	-	-	-
NOV	23	10	28
Dec 1-7	13/1	6	11
Dec 8-14	6	7	8
Dec 15-21	6	29	15

 

Violence By Province Dec 15-21, 2022

Province	Violence	2018 Avg	2019 Avg	2020 Avg	2021 Avg	2022 Avg
Anbar	-	12.6 incidents/ month	8.6 incidents/ month	7.0 incidents/ month	4.6 incidents/ month	2.1 incidents/month
Babil	-	4.0 incidents/month	3.0 incidents/month	2.75 incidents/month	2.5 incidents/month	1.8 incidents/month
Baghdad	-	33.0 incidents/month	11.6 incidents/month	7.3 incidents/month	5.6 incidents/ month	3.5 incidents/month
Diyala	2 Incidents 10 Killed 10 Civilians 7 Wounded 7 Civilians   2 Shootings	34.5 incidents/month	30.0 incidents/month	30.6 incidents/month	23.2 incidents/month	13.0 incidents/month
Kirkuk	2 Incidents 15 Killed 15 ISF 2 Wounded 2 ISF   1 Shooting 3 IEDs	36.5 incidents/month	18.6 incidents/month	13.9 incidents/month	11.6 incidents/month	8.3 incidents/month
Ninewa	2 Incidents 4 Killed 2 Civilians 2 ISF 6 Wounded 3 Civilians 3 ISF   2 IEDs	20.0 incidents/month	14.0 incidents/month	10.6 incidents/month	8.4 incidents/month	5.8 incidents/month
Salahaddin	-	21.7 incidents/month	10.6 incidents/month	11.2 incidents/month	11.5 incidents/month	5.7 incidents/month

 

SOURCES

 

Al Aalem, “The recent ISIS attacks … experts delve into their causes and compare them to what happened before 2014,” 12/21/22

 

Al Bawaba, "12 policemen killed in Kirkuk," 12/19/22

 

Kurdistan 24, "Iraqi soldier killed in an ISIS attack in the suburbs of Kirkuk," 12/21/22

 

Mahmoud, Sinan, "Terrorists stage more attacks in northern Iraq, killing five soldiers," The National, 12/22/22

 

Middle East Eye, "Iraq: Suspected militants kill eight civilians near Baghdad," 12/20/22

 

NINA, "5 soldiers killed and wounded in an ISIS attack northwest of Kirkuk" 12/22/22

- "9 federal policemen, including an officer, killed in a terrorist attack west of Kirkuk" 12/18/22

- "A young man and a girl were shot dead, northeast of Baquba," 12/15/22

 

Al Sumaria, "A bomb targeting the army in Kirkuk .. Martyrs and injured," 12/21/22

- "Five children were killed and wounded when an explosive device exploded in Mosul," 12/16/22