Southern Iraq (South Central and South East Regions)
The South Central Region reported a total of six incidents during the reporting period, a slight reduction on last weeks figure and still below the 2012 weekly average of eight. Once again the majority of reported activity occurred in Babil province, with the attempted assassination of the Mayor of Kifl being the most noteworthy incident. In Jurf al-Saker, in the north-west of the province, a soldier was shot and seriously wounded while on duty at a checkpoint. Outside of Babil, a grenade attack targeted a barber-shop in Kut, although no casualties were reported. The majority of other reported incidents comprised of ISF raid operations conducted throughout the region. A number of arrests under Article 4 (Anti-Terrorism) legislation were made, along with cache finds in three locations in Babil.
The South East Region reported a total of seven incidents this week, equal to the 2012 weekly average. While this is the second consecutive weekly rise in incidents in the region, incident levels in the south east remain consistently lower than the rest of the country (less the area of the KRG). As is frequent, all of the weeks reported incidents occurred in Basra province, the majority of which were murders although there was also a ‘sound bomb’ at a wedding reception which injured one person. The Shia festival of Eid al-Ghadeer also resulted in a major security operation in Basra City by security forces. Outside of Basra province, an on-going tribal dispute in Maysan sparked by a recent murder has heightened tensions between two local tribes, resulting in a curfew and a heightened ISF presence in the area.
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