Weekly Security Update 21 - 26 November 2013

The violence continued through Friday to Sunday with a brief respite on Saturday.  Once again Friday prayers presented opportune targets for both Sunni and Shia groups.  In a sign of growing frustration with the security services many Sunni mosques closed Friday and Saturday as senior clerics shut places of worship in protest at what they see as a lack of protection from the ISF.  Shia militias in the face of severe provocation have done much to restrain themselves in recent months however there are once again signs that they are now taking a more proactively aggressive stance towards Sunni insurgents and the Sunni community.  Further evidence of this could be seen when two roadside bombs were detonated near Sunni mosques on the outskirts of Baghdad, which killed 3 people and according to Sunni clerics forms part of a campaign directed against Sunni worshippers and imams by both the government and Shia militias.

Elsewhere in Baghdad at least 23 people were killed in Sunni neighborhoods (Doura) when two roadside bombs targeted a café and a small insurgent attack group targeted a mobile patrol from the government backed Sahwa militia.

Over the weekend Tuz Khurmato, 170km north of Baghdad, once again saw a return to the violence it experienced 2 weeks ago in a continuation of violence against the Shia population of the town.  A twin attack by a suicide bomber and a remote car bomb killed 9 people and wounded over 60 when insurgents attacked a crowded shopping area filled with worshippers from a nearby Shi’ite mosque, the majority of whom were socializing after morning prayers.

As the reporting period came to a close Baghdad became the focal point for violence (Baghdad has experienced daily high impact attacks for more than a year) as multiple car bombings killed over 30 people in Shia neighbourhoods after insurgents detonated two bombs targeting the few social meeting places left open in the Iraqi capital.  This targeting of social areas has become a favourite MO for insurgents and is even more tragic and callous given the potentially indiscriminate targeting of family groups.

The ISF also came under significant pressure Tuesday as suicide bombers killed 14 and wounded over 40 members of the security services in 2 separate attacks in the north of the capital.  In the first set of attacks, two bombers detonated in quick succession at an intersection between the towns of Taji and Tarmiya, around 25 km north of the Iraqi capital, in an attack that targeted a mobile patrol killing 8 Iraqi soldiers and wounding 26.  Later on during the day two more suicide bombers targeting another army base in a village outside Taji killed six police and wounded 11 in the culmination of a bloody reporting period for the ISF.