Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Attacks Drop Across Iraq But Casualties Remain High In August 2014

 
August saw the fewest security incidents in Iraq of 2014 yet casualties remained exceedingly high. The month saw the second most deaths and wounded of the year. The figures remained large despite the drop in attacks due to massacres by the Islamic State in its conquered territory and a report on peshmerga losses in Ninewa. Fighting remains heated in several parts of Iraq meaning that casualties will continue at these levels for the foreseeable future.

There were just 830 security incidents in August. That passed the previous low of 878 seen in June. For the month, Baghdad saw the most with 207 attacks, followed by 170 in Salahaddin, and 144 in Anbar. There was a decided drop in violence in August from 265 incidents from August 1-8, to 178 from August 9-14, 150 from August 15-21, a little increase to 179 from August 22-28, and the 58 in the last three days of the month.

These attacks led to 2,668 deaths and 3,640 wounded. Only June saw more with 2,851 killed and 3,677 injured. In August the dead were made up of 299 peshmerga, 281 members of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), 65 Sahwa, and 2,023 civilians, while the wounded included 608 peshmerga, 466 ISF, 20 Sahwa, and 2,546 civilians. The high Kurdish losses were due to one report at the beginning of August that said 200 peshmerga were killed and 500 wounded in fighting in Ninewa. In total, 254 peshmerga were killed and 516 injured in that province last month. Another 40 died and 73 were wounded in Diyala around Jalawla, 4 killed and 13 injured in Salahaddin, and 1 death and 6 wounded in Kirkuk. For the ISF they suffered the most dead in Salahaddin, 77, Baghdad, 56, Babil, 45, Anbar 44, Diyala 39, and ten each in Ninewa and Kirkuk. There were also several massacres in the press. August 3 after the fall of Sinjar 70 Yazidis were killed. Two days later another 300 were said to have been executed. August 15 the town of Kojo was taken by the Islamic State resulting in 84 more Yazidis losing their lives. Other examples were the execution of 14 kidnapped police in Shirqat in Salahaddin on August 2. That same day 20 other bodies were discovered there. On August 9 200 bodies were found at Camp Speicher outside of Tikrit, Salahaddin. There were plenty of other incidents as well with IS the likely culprit. So far in 2014 there have been a total of 15,003 fatalities reported in the press along with 24,417 wounded.


Violence In Iraq By Month 2014
Month
Security
Incidents
Dead
Wounded
Shootings
Bombs
Car Bombs
Jan
1,014
1,483
427 ISF
69 Sahwa
2 Asayesh
985 Civilians
2,880
646 ISF
48 Sahwa
2,186 Civilians
468
501
96
Feb
945
1,274
516 ISF
58 Sahwa
2 Peshmerga
698 Civilians
2,526
702 ISF
93 Sahwa
3 Peshmerga
1,728 Civilians
428
474
84
Mar
996
1,606
567 ISF
48 Sahwa
2 Asayesh
989 Civilians
2,901
631 ISF
57 Sahwa
1 Asayesh
2,212 Civilians
417
550
82
Apr
999
1,456
538 ISF
46 Sahwa
1 Asayesh
871 Civilians
2,905
806 ISF
53 Sahwa
1 Asayesh
2,040 Civilians
376
583
79
May
905
1,468
506 ISF
77 Sahwa
1 Peshmerga
884 Civilians
2,610
719 ISF
50 Sahwa
1,841 Civilians
370
506
81
Jun
878
2,851
844 ISF
31 Sahwa
62 Peshmerga
1,914 Civilians
3,677
750 ISF
47 Sahwa
198 Peshmerga
1 Asayesh
2,681 Civilians
436
343
58
Jul
923
2,197
426 ISF
28 Sahwa
60 Peshmerga
1,683 Civilians
3,278
738 ISF
24 Sahwa
175 Peshmerga
2,341 Civilians
450
685
42
Aug
830
2,668
281 ISF
65 Sahwa
299 Peshmerga
2,023 Civilians
3,640
466 ISF
20 Sahwa
608 Peshmerga
2,546 Civilians
364
387
59
Totals
7,490
15,003
4,105 ISF
422 Sahwa
5 Asayesh
424 Peshmerga
10,047 Civilians
24,417
5,458 ISF
392 Sahwa
3 Asayesh
984 Peshmerga
17,575 Civilians
3,309
6,838
581

Violence In Iraq By Week 2014
Date
Incidents
Dead
Wounded
Jan 1-7
244
363
736
Jan 8-14
272
364
683
Jan 15-21
205
358
616
Jan 22-28
236
305
618
Jan 29-31
57
93
237
JAN
1,014
1,483
2,890
Feb 1-7
204
296
700
Feb 8-14
226
258
505
Feb 15-21
264
346
703
Feb 22-28
251
374
618
FEB
945
1,274
2,526
Mar 1-7
253
412
702
Mar 8-14
206
324
612
Mar 15-21
216
423
736
Mar 22-27
211
279
580
Mar 28-31
110
168
271
MAR
996
1,606
2,901
Apr 1-7
238
259
550
Apr 8-14
223
362
646
Apr 15-21
251
406
786
Apr 22-28
226
347
744
Apr 29-30
61
82
179
APR
999
1,456
2,905
May 1-7
198
246
483
May 8-14
257
469
752
May 15-21
183
256
426
May 22-28
204
407
817
May 29-31
63
90
132
MAY
905
1,468
2,610
Jun 1-7
224
588
1,021
Jun 8-14
227
658
887
Jun 15-21
170
729
564
Jun 22-28
170
720
775
Jun 29-30
56
127
236
JUN
877
2,822
3,483
Jul 1-7
200
511
622
Jul 8-14
211
577
625
Jul 15-21
225
398
1,000
Jul 22-28
223
549
801
Jul 29-31
65
162
230
JUL
924
2,197
3,278
Aug 1-8
265
951
885
Aug 9-14
178
709
1,152
Aug 15-21
150
348
499
Aug 22-28
179
542
815
Aug 29-31
58
118
289
AUG
830
2,668
3,640

Security Incidents In Iraq By Province Aug 2014
Province
Security
Incidents
Dead
Wounded
Types of
Attack
Anbar
144
414
44 ISF
32 Sahwa
338 Civilians
694
44 ISF
9 Sahwa
641 Civilians
62 Shootings
9 IEDs
6 Suicide Car Bombs
8 Car Bombs
1 Suicide Bomber
1 Sticky Bomb
Babil
57
99
45 ISF
3 Sahwa
51 Civilians
184
72 ISF
2 Sahwa
110 Civilians
27 Shootings
19 IEDs
3 Suicide Car Bombs
2 Car Bombs
3 Sticky Bombs
Baghdad
207
439
56 ISF
2 Sahwa
381 Civilians
1,017
116 ISF
901 Civilians
64 Shootings
73 IEDs
3 Suicide Car Bombs
20 Car Bombs
2 Suicide Bombers
17 Sticky Bombs
Basra
12
10
10 Civilians
21
21 Civilians
8 Shootings
3 IEDs
Diyala
93
249
39 ISF
40 Peshmerga
170 Civilians
258
24 ISF
73 Peshmerga
161 Civilians
48 Shootings
27 IEDs
4 Suicide Car Bombers
2 Car Bombs
22 Suicide Bombers
Karbala
9
14
14 Civilians
40
40 Civilians
1 Shooting
8 IEDs
2 Car Bombs
Kirkuk
58
124
10 ISF
3 Sahwa
1 Peshmerga
110 Civilians
321
6 Peshmerga
310 Civilians
20 Shootings
29 IEDs
3 Car Bombs
Ninewa
73
795
10 ISF
254 Peshmerga
563
17 ISF
516 Peshmerga
30 Civilians
43 Shootings
22 IEDs
2 Car Bombs
2 Suicide Bombers
Qadisiyah
6

5
5 Civilians
6 IEDs
Salahaddin
170
524
77 ISF
25 Sahwa
4 Peshmerga
418 Civilians
537
188 ISF
9 Sahwa
13 Peshmerga
327 Civilians
91 Shootings
74 IEDs
1 Suicide Car Bomb
2 Car Bombs
5 Suicide Bombers
4 Sticky Bombs
Wasit
1


1 Car Bomb


Another driver of the high casualties in August were wave after wave of car bombs. There were 59 car bombs for the month, which was nowhere near the highest figure in 2014. What was different was the frequency of these attacks. There were six waves during the month with only one day in between them except for the last one when there was a two day hiatus. Usually there are several days in between series, sometimes lasting up to almost a week. The Islamic State’s capture of ISF weapons dumps were the likely cause of this sustained campaign. These attacks left 381 fatalities and 699 injured.


Car Bomb Attacks In Iraq Aug 2014
Date
Location
Dead
Wounded
Aug 1
Haditha, Anbar
Sadr City, Baghdad
16
25
Aug 2
Rawa, Anbar
Balad & Dujail, Salahaddin
8
42
Aug 3
Outside Haditha, Anbar


Aug 4
?, Anbar

5
Aug 5



Aug 6
Outside Fallujah, Anbar
New Baghdad x2, Sadr City x2, Ur x2, Baghdad
Aliya Rash, Ninewa
48
96
Aug 7
Kadhimiya, Baghdad
Kirkuk, Kirkuk
25
90
Aug 8
Fallujah & West of Ramadi, Anbar
Sadr City, Baghdad
2
7
Aug 9



Aug 10
Haditha, Anbar
Jalawla x3, Diyala


Aug 11
Diyala Bridge, Baghdad
Aziziya, Wasit
4
8
Aug 12
Karrada  & Zafaraniya, Baghdad
17
51
Aug 13
Amil, Baya & New Baghdad, Baghdad
18
43
Aug 14
Jalawla, Diyala
5
13
Aug 15
Ramadi, Anbar


Aug 16



Aug 17
Yusifiya, Baghdad


Aug 18
Iskandiriya x2, Babil
1
16
Aug 19
Iskandiriya, Babil


Aug 20
Husseiniya & Palestine St, Baghdad
11
30
Aug 21



Aug 22
South of Tikrit, Salahaddin
11
30
Aug 23
Baghdadi, Anbar
Karrada, Baghdad
Kirkuk, Kirkuk
16
40
Aug 24
Shula, Baghdad
5
12
Aug 25
Hillah x2, Babil
Kadhimiya x2, Baghdad
Tweij x2, Karbala
Mosul, Ninewa
30
84
Aug 26
New Baghdad, Baghdad
12
35
Aug 27



Aug 28



Aug 29
Tuz Kharmato, Salahaddin
8
30
Aug 30
Amiriya Fallujah x2, Anbar
Yusifiya, Baghdad
Anjana, Diyala
11
25
Aug 31
Ramadi x2
13
17
TOTALS
59
381
699



The government played a large role in the monthly casualty count as well. Indiscriminate shelling, which was mostly concentrated in Anbar cost the lives of 246 people, and wounded another 541. Air strikes led to another 172 deaths and 128 injured. The ISF continues to treat any area under insurgent control as a legitimate target and consistently hits civilians almost every day. Bad intelligence and coordination between the different branches of the armed forces likely accounted for the indiscriminate nature of these strikes along with a disregard for civilian casualties.


Casualties From Government Shelling 2014
Date
Dead
Wounded
Aug 1-7
77
196
Aug 8-14
29
66
Aug 15-21
69
137
Aug 22-28
73
114
Aug 29-31
18
94
TOTAL
246
541

Casualties From Air Strikes 2014
Date
Dead
Wounded
Aug 1-7
58
56
Aug 8-14
39
49
Aug 15-21
11

Aug 22-28
26
23
Aug 29-31
38

TOTAL
172
128

SOURCES

Agence France Presse, "13 killed in bomb attacks on Iraq forces in Ramadi," 8/31/14

Alsumaria, "Cleaning villages and the killing of nine elements of Daash north of Baquba," 8/11/14
- "Killing and wounding 16 people, including four children in as mortar shells fall on Fallujah," 8/24/14
- "Killing and wounding 19 people including a child and two women in the fall of mortars on Fallujah," 8/23/14
- "Killing and wounding 28 people including women and children in the fall of mortars in Fallujah," 8/22/14

Buratha News, "200 bodies found near Base Speicher believed to be students killed by Daash gang," 8/9/14

eKurd, "After Peshmerga pullout, hundreds of missing Iraqi Kurdish Yazidis feared dead," 8/4/14

Al Forat, "14 Intelligence officers executed by ISIL in Shurqat," 8/2/14
- "20 unidentified corpses discovered in Shurqat," 8/20/14

Iraq Times, "Martyrdom and wounding 650 elements of the Peshmerga in battles with the Daash terrorist organization," 8/8/14

Al Jazeera, "Suicide attack kills soldiers near Baghdad," 8/30/14

NINA, "Two car bombs exploded south of Fallujah," 8/30/14
- "Urgent../25/ civilians and security forces killed and injured in a car bomb in downtown Ramadi," 8/31/14

Osgood, Patrick and Tahir, Rawaz, "Iraq's Yezidi minority faces massacre," Iraq Oil Report, 8/6/14

Radio Free Iraq, "26 August 2014," Daily Updates from Anbar, 8/26/14

Al Rayy, "Explosion of "Hummer bomb" by suicide bombers traveling near Baquba, north of defensive zone," 8/30/14
- "Two civilians were injured by a car bomb amid Tuz," 8/29/14

Rudaw, "At Least 8 Killed, 30 Wounded by Bomb, Mortars in Tuz," 8/29/14

Sly, Liz, "Islamic State fighters kill dozens of Yazidi villagers," Washington Post, 8/16/14

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