Security In Iraq Mar 8-14, 2024

The Islamic State suddenly lurched back to life in Iraq during the second week of March carrying out the most attacks in a year. Pro-Iran groups also claimed another attack upon Israel.

 

There were 7 possible attacks by the Islamic State in Iraq from March 8-14. That compared to just 2 the week before and 1 the last full week of February. It’s also the highest number of incidents in one week since 8 in the last week of February 2023. That shows how much the insurgency has fallen off over the last year.

 

Most of those occurred in Anbar. That started with an old IED going off in the Rawa district that killed 2 Hashd and wounded 4 others. A security sweep in that same area led to a gun battle with some insurgents. 3 civilians were kidnapped likely for ransom. Finally another bomb went off in the Wadi Thar Thar that wounded 3 soldiers. This was a dramatic change for the province which has seen hardly any violence besides the occasional IS infiltrators being caught attempting to sneak in from Syria.

 

In Diyala a young man was gunned down in the Canaan area which could have been related to the insurgency as well.

 

Finally, in Kirkuk there was an IED that killed 1 civilian and injured 1 more and a mukhtar’s house was attacked with gunfire. The latter was probably an act of intimidation against the local mayor to allow the militants to operate in his area.

 

Last week it was reported that a new IS commander had been identified in Iraq and he was trying to reorganize the group. This surprise jump in attacks could be his work.

 

Last pro-Iran groups continue to claim drone strikes on Israel in retaliation for the Gaza War. This could have been launched from Iraq or Syria and as usual there was no confirmation.

 

Security Incidents In Iraq By Province

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

 

Casualties In Iraq By Province

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

 

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

 

SOURCES

 

Bas News, "IS Abducts Two Civilians in Anbar Amid Fears of Terror Group's Resurgence," 3/9/24

 

Kurdistan 24, "IED explosion kills one and injures another in Kirkuk province," 3/8/24

 

NINA, "An officer and two soldiers injured when an explosive device exploded in Wadi Al-Tharthar in Anbar Governorate," 3/14/24

- "The Islamic Resistance targets the Zionist Information Base No. 1 in the northern occupied Golan with drones," 3/9/24

- "Unidentified gunmen assassinated a young man in Canaan district of Diyala," 3/13/24

 

Shafaq News, "An armed attack targeted the house of a village mayor in Kirkuk," 3/11/24

- "A force from the Mobilization Forces engages in clashes with ISIS members inside a tunnel in Anbar Governorate," 3/9/24

 

Xinhua, "2 tribal fighters killed in bomb explosion in W. Iraq," 3/9/24