Security In Iraq Mar 15-21, 2024

The second week of March saw the largest uptick in Islamic State violence in Iraq in a year. The next week things went back to normal with the insurgency barely active. Pro-Iran groups also remain silent with a continuing ceasefire.

 

There were just two security incidents reported in Iraq from March 15-21. The week before there were 8 total with 7 by the Islamic State and 1 by pro-Iran factions.

 

In Kirkuk’s southern Rashad district an old IED went off which wounded 2 soldiers. In Salahaddin IS carried out an actual attack upon the security forces.

 

Since the third week of May 2023 there have been less than 5 incidents per week in Iraq by IS with last week being the only exception. It shows that the insurgency barely exists anymore in Iraq. The brief surge in violence from March 8-14 shows that the militants are incapable of sustaining their operations and exposes their weakness.

 

The ceasefire brokered by Iran and the Sudani government with groups aligned with Tehran continued for another week. Baghdad and Tehran were afraid of a major escalation after American soldiers were killed in a drone strike in Jordan and negotiated a halt in attacks to allow for talks over a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq.

 

Security Incidents In Iraq By Province

Province	Mar 1-7	Mar 8-14	Mar 15-21
Anbar	-	4	-
Baghdad	2	-	-
Diyala	-	1	-
Israel	2 Pro-Iran	1 Pro-Iran	-
Kirkuk	-	2	1
Salahaddin	-	-	1
TOTAL	4/2 Pro-Iran	8/1 Pro-Iran	2

 

Casualties In Iraq By Province

Province	Feb 1-7	Feb 8-14	Mar 15-21
Anbar	-	9 (2K, 7W)	-
Baghdad	6 (2K, 4W)	-	-
Diyala	-	1 (1K)	-
Kirkuk	-	2 (1K, 1W)	2 (2W)
TOTAL	6 (2K, 4W)	12 (4K, 8W)	2 (2W)

 

Security In Iraq 2022-23

Week	Security Incidents (Total/By IS)	Dead (Total/By IS)	Wounded (Total/By IS)
JAN 2022	87/41 Pro-Iran	33	59
FEB	42/14 Pro-Iran	10	29
MAR	46/12/1 Pro-Iran	19	21
APR	111/22 Pro-Iran	34	103
MAY	73/13 Pro-Iran	41	51
JUN	40/14 Pro-Iran	7	33
JUL	43/6 Pro-Iran	33	54
AUG	57/7/1 Pro-Iran	24	54
SEP	41/1/3 M	9	64
OCT	28/2/3 M	17	45
NOV	23	10	28
DEC	33/1 Pro-Iran	42	38
JAN 2023	29/4 Pro-Iran	12	15
Feb 1-7	6/2 Pro-Iran	1	5
Feb 8-14	1	-	2
Feb 15-21	4	4	8
Feb 22-28	9/1 Pro-Iran	7	3
FEB	20/3 Pro-Iran	12	18
Mar 1-7	3	10	4
Mar 8-14	2	2	1
Mar 15-21	2	1	3
Mar 22-28	1	2	-
Mar 29-31	1	3	-
MAR	9	18	8
Apr 1-7	5	1	7
Apr 8-14	4	-	1
Apr 15-21	5	3	-
Apr 22-28	2	1	-
Apr 29-30	1	1	-
APR	16	6	8
May 1-7	2	1	1
May 8-14	6	4	3
May 15-21	3	2	6
May 22-28	3	1	3
May 29-31	2	-	3
MAY	15	8	14
Jun 1-7	-	-	-
Jun 8-14	4	7	4
Jun 15-21	2	1	2
Jun 22-28	4	2	4
Jun 29-30	-	-	-
JUN	10	10	10
Jul 1-7	1	-	-
Jul 8-14	3	2	1
Jul 15-21	2	-	1
Jul 22-28	2	-	2
Jul 29-31	3/2 Pro-Iran	-	-
JUL	11/2 Pro-Iran	2	4
Aug 1-7	4	-	4
Aug 8-14	2	1	3
Aug 15-21	2	-	5
Aug 22-28	2	-	2
Aug 29-31	3/1 Pro-Iran	1	9
AUG	13/1 Pro-Iran	2	23
Sep 1-7	1	-	1
Sep 8-14	1	1	-
Sep 15-21	2	-	4
Sep 22-28	1	1	1
Sep 29-30	-	-	-
SEP	5	2	6
Oct 1-7	-	-	-
Oct 8-14	-	-	-
Oct 15-21	7 Pro-Iran	-	-
Oct 22-28	7/5 Pro-Iran	-	8
Oct 29-31	3 Pro-Iran	-	-
OCT	17/15 Pro-Iran	-	8
Nov 1-7	11/9	4	2
Nov 8-14	12/10	-	3
Nov 15-21	6 Pro-Iran	-	8 Amer
Nov 22-28	4 Pro-Iran	-	-
Nov 29-30	2	11	16
NOV	35/29 Pro-Iran	15	29
Dec 1-7	10/8 Pro-Iran	1	9
Dec 8-14	8/6 Pro-Iran	-	2
Dec 15-21	6/2 Pro-Iran	1	2
Dec 22-28	7/6 Pro-Iran	-	3 US
Dec 29-31	4 Pro-Iran
DEC	35/26 Pro-Iran	2K	16W
Jan 1-7	10/6 Pro-Iran/1 Iranian	5	9
Jan 8-14	7/3 Pro-Iran	3	3
Jan 15-21	10/6 Pro-Iran	6	6
Jan 22-28	11/10 Pro-Iran	-	-
Jan 29-31	3 Pro-Ira	-	-
JAN	42/28 Pro-Iran/1 Iranian	14	20
Feb 1-7	1 Pro-Iran	-	-
Feb 8-14	-	-	-
Feb 15-21	-	-	-
Feb 22-29	1	-	-
FEB	2/1 Pro-Iran	-	-
Mar 1-7	4/2 Pro-Iran	1	4
Mar 8-14	8/1 Pro-Iran	4	8
Mar 15-21	2	-	2

 

SOURCES

 

Buratha News, "Repelling a terrorist attack on the islands of the Tigris River, east of Salahaddin," 3/17/24

 

Shafaq News, "Two soldiers were injured by a "foreign object" explosion in Kirkuk," 3/16/24