Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Security In Iraq, Aug 8-14, 2016


For the eighth straight week violence in Iraq remained at a relatively low level. The government launched two new offensives. One was a mopping up operation in Anbar, while both the army and Peshmerga made pushes in Ninewa.

There were 120 security incidents reported in the press from August 8-14, 2016. That was up from 109 the first week of August, but still inline with the 115, 123, 129, 120, and 123 incidents from the week of June 22 to the week ending on June 28.

There were 53 incidents in Baghdad, 22 in Ninewa, 14 in Anbar, 9 in Diyala, 9 in Kirkuk, 5 in Salahaddin, 4 in Babil, 1 in Dohuk, 1 in Irbil, 1 in Muthanna, and 1 in Sulaymaniya.

During the week there were 169 fatalities and 225 wounded. 1 Sahwa, 3 Hashd, 10 Peshmerga, 31 members of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), and 124 civilians lost their lives. Another 4 Asayesh, 7 Hashd, 15 Peshmerga, 41 ISF, and 158 civilians were injured.

Baghdad was the deadliest province as usual with 76 killed. 45 also died in Ninewa, 25 in Kirkuk, 9 in Diyala, 8 in Anbar, 2 in Muthanna, 2 in Salahaddin, 1 in Dohuk, and 1 in Irbil.

The government launched the second phase of its Khalidiya Island operation in Anbar. The area lies in between Fallujah and Ramadi and was a major Islamic State base. Despite the area being declared cleared, there are still lots of insurgent cells left in the area. IS responded with a few counterattacks there, but also many in and around Ramadi showing that the militants are moving back into that district. Finally, mortars struck Hit twice. In total there were 14 incidents with 8 deaths and 7 wounded during the week in the province.

Babil remained relatively quiet. There were just four incidents and no casualties. Several houses were bombed though.

Violence has been slowly going down in the capital province. There were 53 incidents with 76 dead and 186 wounded in Baghdad from August 8-14. Before there were regularly 60-70 incidents per week in the governorate, but now that has gone down to 60-50. The Islamic State was still attempting mass casualty bombings. A car bomb and a suicide bomber exploded during the week, but both hit checkpoints in the outer southern towns limiting casualties to 10 dead and 19 wounded in total. The south as usual was hit the most with 19 incidents, with 13 more in the north, 12 in the east, 5 in the west, 3 in the center, and one in an unknown location.

Violence in Baghdad Aug 8-14, 2016
Center: 3 – 1 Shooting, 2 IEDs
East: 10 – 2 Kidnapping, 2 Sticky Bombs, 3 Shootings, 3 IEDs
Outer East: 2 – 2 IEDs
North: 6 – 1 Kidnapping, 1 Shooting, 2 Sticky Bombs, 2 IEDs
Outer North: 7 – 1 Shooting, 6 IEDs
South: 9 – 1 Sticky Bomb, 1 Shooting, 7 IEDs
Outer South: 10 – 1 Car Bomb, 1 Suicide Bomber, 1 Shooting, 7 IEDs
West: 4 – 4 IEDs
Outer West: 1 – 1 Shooting
Unknown: 1 – 1 Kidnapping

IS carried out its usual mix of low level attacks in Diyala. There were 9 incidents, 9 killed, and 4 wounded. 7 of those attacks were shootings, with 1 IED and an attack on the police with small arms and mortar fire.

Kirkuk only reported 9 incidents during the week. IS hit the Bai Hassan oil field again bombing the facility, which has hurt Kurdistan’s oil sales. The group also executed 23 people in Hawija, which it is struggling to control as the security forces draw closer.

Kurdistan witnessed some rare incidents. First, there was an apparent political assassination in Irbil when the nephew of the Ninewa governor was found shot dead. In Dohuk a journalist was killed, which sparked an investigation into the causes. Finally, in Sulaymaniya, 2 suicide bombers were intercepted with one being killed, but the other blowing himself up, which injured 4 Asayesh.

Southern Iraq had a rare attack. In Muthanna province a car bomb was intercepted and blew up killing two ISF and wounding five civilians. The last time the governorate was hit was in May when two car bombs detonated.

In the 2nd week of August both the army and Peshmerga re-started offensive operations in Ninewa. First, the army freed four villages in the Qayara district. Then the Peshmerga moved into the Khazir and Gwar districts liberating 12 more towns. Both forces were trying to make way for the up coming Mosul operation that is likely to start at the end of the year or beginning of the next. As usual, the insurgents responded with a series of counterattacks that left 12 ISF and 7 Peshmerga dead, and 12 more Peshmerga wounded. The militants executed another 25 people in Mosul, Badush, and Qayara.

There were just 5 incidents in Salahaddin spread across Baiji, Samarra, Shirqat, and Tuz Kharmato districts. Four of those were infantry assaults, and the 5th was an IED on the police. The governorate has only seen sporadic violence over the last few months.

There were five car bombs from August 8-14, which were the most since 9 detonated in the third week of June. Besides the ones in Baghdad and Muthanna, three more hit the Qayara base in Ninewa. In total 17 people lost their lives, and another 13 were injured. The government forces claimed they destroyed a further 10 in Anbar and Ninewa.

Violence In Iraq 2016
Date
Incidents
Dead
Wounded
Jan 1-7
171
856
421
Jan 8-14
161
547
418
Jan 15-21
160
395
273
Jan 22-28
149
448
331
Jan 29-31
55
133
334
JAN
696
2,379
1,777
Feb 1-7
176
611
325
Feb 8-14
145
253
324
Feb 15-21
157
395
269
Feb 22-29
161
400
701
FEB
639
1,659
1,619
Mar 1-7
185
351
484
Mar 8-14
169
477
515
Mar 15-21
132
418
502
Mar 22-28
141
245
432
Mar 29-31
53
192
152
MAR
680
1,683
2,085
Apr 1-7
157
398
510
Apr 8-14
145
361
443
Apr 15-21
130
531
300
Apr 22-28
166
480
532
Apr 29-30
31
65
121
APR
629
1,835
1,906
May 1-7
164
386
422
May 8-14
147
407
687
May 15-21
127
387
617
May 22-28
150
315
445
May 29-31
84
122
313
MAY
672
1,612
2,484
Jun 1-7
177
592
1,639
Jun 8-14
136
345
472
Jun 15-21
154
416
523
Jun 22-28
123
329
410
Jun 29-30
40
429
3,405
JUN
630
2,111
6,449
Jul 1-7
120
589
635
Jul 8-14
129
242
316
Jul 15-21
123
168
272
Jul 22-28
115
234
366
Jul 29-31
43
95
119
JUL
530
1,328
1,708
Aug 1-7
109
342
255
Aug 8-14
120
169
225

Security By Province Aug 8-14 2016
Province
Incidents
Anbar
14 Incidents
8 Killed: 2 ISF, 6 Civilians
7 Wounded: 3 ISF, 4 Civilians
5 Shootings
2 Mortars
24 Suicide Bombers killed
2 Suicide Car Bombs Destroyed
1 Car Bomb Destroyed
Babil
4 Incidents
3 IEDs
Baghdad
53 Incidents
76 Killed: 1 Sahwa, 3 Hashd, 12 ISF, 60 Civilians
186 Wounded: 7 Hashd, 32 ISF, 147 Civilians
9 Shootings
33 IEDs
5 Sticky Bombs
1 Suicide Bomber
1 Car Bomb
Diyala
9 Incidents
9 Killed: 3 ISF, 6 Civilians
4 Wounded: 4 ISF
8 Shootings
1 IED
1 Mortar
Dohuk
1 Incident
1 Killed: 1 Civilian
1 Shooting
Irbil
1 Incident
1 Killed: 1 Civilian
1 Shooting
Kirkuk
9 Incidents
25 Killed: 1 Peshmerga, 24 Civilians
1 Wounded: 1 Civilian
5 Shootings
2 IEDs
1 Mortar
Muthanna
1 Incident
2 Killed: 2 ISF
5 Wounded: 5 Civilians
1 Car Bomb
Ninewa
22 Incidents
45 Killed: 7 Peshmerga, 12 ISF, 26 Civilians
13 Wounded: 1 Civilian, 12 Peshmerga
8 Shootings
9 IEDs
3 Suicide Car Bombs
2 Mortars
1 Rockets
1 Suicide Bomber killed
3 Suicide Car Bombs Destroyed
4 Car Bombs Destroyed
Salahaddin
5 Incidents
2 Killed: 2 Peshmerga
5 Wounded: 2 ISF, 3 Peshmerga
4 Shootings
1 IED
Sulaymaniya
1 Incident
4 Wounded: 4 Asayesh
1 Suicide Bomber

Car Bombs In Iraq Aug 1-7 2016
Date
Car Bombs
Dead
Wounded
Aug 1
Shirqat, Salahaddin – 3 destroyed


Aug 2
Hadhar & Qayara, Ninewa – 15 destroyed


Aug 3
Tarmiya, Baghdad – 1 destroyed


Aug 4
North of Baquba, Diyala
1
5
Aug 5



Aug 6



Aug 7



Totals
1 – 19 Destroyed
1
5
Au 8



Aug 9



Aug 10
Arab Jabour, Baghdad
Qayara Base x3, Ninewa
15
8
Aug 11
Samawa, Muthanna
Haj Ali & Hadhar, Ninewa – 6 destroyed
2
5
Aug 12
Albu Assaf & Khalidiya Island, Anbar – 2 destroyed


Aug 13



Aug 14
Azwaip, Anbar – 1 destroyed
Khazir, Ninewa – 1 destroyed


Totals
5 – 10 Destroyed
17
13

SOURCES

Agence France Presse, "Iraq governor's nephew gunned down in north: officials," 8/13/16

AIN, "A car bomb targeting the Peshmerga between Al Khazir and Qayara," 8/14/16

Face Iraq, "The martyrdom and wounding of 17 people after a wave of violence which affected the capital Baghdad and the province of Muthanna," 8/11/16

Iraqi News, "ISIS attacks Iraqi army south of Mosul," 8/10/16
- "Joint security forces liberate villages south of Nineveh," 8/14/16
- "Nineveh council announces liberating seven villages east of Mosul," 8/14/16
- "Nineveh Operations liberate four villages south of Mosul," 8/13/16
- "Peshmerga ends its offensive in Mosul," 8/15/16

Al Maalomah, "Federal police destroyed a car bomb west of Ramadi," 8/12/16
- "Four suicide bombers killed and the destruction of a car bomb northeast of Ramadi," 8/12/16
- "The start of the second stage of cleansing Khalidiya island east of Ramadi," 8/8/16

Al Mada, "Army begins operation to liberate the villages south of Mosul," 8/12/16
- "Killing and wounding 11 soldiers in suicide bombing targeting checkpoint south Baghdad," 8/10/16

NINA, "Five attacks by Daash on villages of Haj Ali repelled south of Mosul," 8/11/16
- "Nineveh police blew up two car bombs Daash and relocating its headquarters from Spyker to the south of Mosul," 8/11/16

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