Iraq Weekly Roundup, 21 February 2012

Summary
There was a fall in the number of attacks recorded in Iraq last week, but the death toll was nonetheless higher than normal following a mass-casualty suicide attack targeting a police academy near Palestine Street in Baghdad.  Clusters of violence occurred in Mosul, Baghdad, Kirkuk, Ba’qubah, Ramadi and Nassiriyah, although overall militancy was down in all of these cities.

Tactics
In total, at least 45 people were killed and 74 injured in nationwide incidents, of which 19 were killed and 29 injured in the suicide attack. Otherwise a fall in the total number of non-suicide bomb attacks left six people dead and 39 injured. A slight rise in the number of small arms attacks left 19 people dead and six injured. There were no indirect fire attacks (rockets and mortars) or abductions reported.

Al-Qaeda and Syria
Meanwhile, security force patrols and operations were stepped up in the province along the border with Syria amid fears of criminal and militant infiltration. However, while the Iraqi security forces are concerned about militants crossing from Syria into Iraq, it is more likely that greater numbers are going in the opposite direction. 

There is mounting evidence that groups such as al-Qaeda are directing their efforts towards the collapsing regime on Iraq’s doorstep in the hope of being able to capitalise on the cover that the lawlessness in the country will afford them.