In the wake of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq as part of concluding the counter-Islamic State mission on the ground there, the group has continued to issue official claims of attacks in Iraq at an elevated rate. A hotspot for the group’s claimed attacks right now is the wider Kirkuk countryside area, as illustrated by an ‘exclusive’ report published in the most recent edition of the group’s weekly newsletter al-Naba’, plus another attack claimed on evening of 24 October in Kirkuk countryside in which the group claimed to have destroyed an infra-red camera at a barracks of the ‘apostate tribal Hashd’ (i.e. Sunni tribal formations classified under the Hashd rubric).
Included alongside the al-Naba’ report is an infographic giving statistics on the group’s operations in Iraq during the past 50 days. The overall level of activity still remains very low and localised but it is worth monitoring for any further escalations in attacks.
Below is the translation of the al-Naba’ report and the accompanying infographic.
Islamic State Insurgent Activity in Iraq Post U.S.-Withdrawal
A recent report in al-Naba’ and statistics
