Security forces undertook a series of raids and arrests in the Sunni Arab farming districts southwest of Kirkuk city. On 13 July 2012, four members of the same family were injured in an indirect fire attack in the village of Al-Kawaz, Kirkuk, northeast of Riyadh. ISF conducting a search found rocket rails on the edge of the district. The Iraqi Army 15th brigade is headquartered at FOB Gaines Mill next to Al-Kawaz and may have been the intended target for the attack. The rocketing may have been intended to deter future arrest operations.
Unusually a grenade attack (injuring one person) was reported in Sulaymaniyah province, within the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). Though the safest part of Iraq, the KRG suffers from sporadic factional or criminal violence, often involving the offices of political parties or the homes or vehicles of persons involved in land disputes. Erbil, Sulaymaniyah and other KRG cities remain very safe environments to operate within.
Central Iraq (Baghdad and Anbar)
For the second consecutive week incidents from Baghdad stayed at a fairly low level, though it should be noted that reporting is unlikely to truly represent the extent of violence in the capital as many lower level incidents are thought to go unreported. There were twenty reported incidents this week versus 32 the week before. Attacks in Baghdad included ten IEDs, six shooting incidents, and four under-vehicle bombs. In Sadr City a bomb detonated on a bus transiting the 55th block on the southern side of the residential district, killing three and injuring fourteen. It is unclear whether the attack was a Sunni Arab terrorist attack (following on from prior AQI attacks on labourers in Sadr City) or an unusually deadly episode of internecine violence between Sadrist elements.
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