On 11 July, one of the most senior leaders in AAH was killed in a silenced pistol attack in the Iskan district of Baghdad, just south of the shrine neighbourhoods of Kadhimiyah. Bashar Asafi is thought to have been a second-tier commander within the Jaish Al-Mahdi (JAM) in the early stages of the movement, and broke away along with Qais Khazali to form AAH in 2006. Khazali instated Asafi as AAH military commander in Diwaniya, where Shia insurgent cells harassed US convoys and bases, and he rose to become a top figure within the organization. As recently as one month ago, Asafi took part in an AAH parade in Baghdad, where he ceremoniously presented a rifle to Khazali.
In Anbar, this week’s violence included six IEDs, two under-vehicle bombs, a shooting attack and a so-called “complex attack.” The latter occurred on 10 July, when four policemen were killed and three others injured in an attack in Khalidiya district, near Ramadi. The attackers used assault rifles and grenades to storm the checkpoint. The prevalence of complex, coordinated attacks on so-called “hard targets” where an exchange of fire is expected has been higher in Anbar than any other province. On January 15 2012, a sustained attack carried out by AQI in Ramadi on the Directorate of Criminal Cases killed thirteen people. The attackers also temporarily occupied a police station nearby. On 5 March 2012, AQI carried out an assault in Haditha. As many as ninety heavily armed men dressed in security force uniforms used up to fourteen vehicles and attacked checkpoints as they proceeded through the town. They also kidnapped and murdered two senior security force leaders during the assault. The attack left 27 policemen dead.
Also on 10 July, two security force members were killed and three others injured during a raid on a house near the Anah district, an area of the Western Euphrates Rivet Valley near the Syrian border. It is reported that security forces received a tip-off about the whereabouts of an armed group, and upon conducting a search operation, IEDs emplaced around the property detonated. The booby-trapping of properties before enticing Iraqi or Coalition operations was a common tactic in the past in areas of AQI activity.
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