Terrorism in Iraq

The risk of terrorist attacks in Iraq over the past years can be classified as extremely high. Worldwide this is one of the most dangerous countries with the most and devastating attacks. Over the past 5 years a total number of 13232 terrorist incidents has been recorded, in which 37476 people have been killed and 59419 injured. Among them were 1203 suicide acts.

In 610 incedents a total of 17573 people have been kidnapped or taken as hostage, though a ransom was rarely (10 times) extorted.

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Most frequent attack targets in Iraq

(2013 to 2017)

Target	Attacks	Killed	Injured	Hostages
Private citizens	6142	21,399	36,170	13,695
Police	2073	6,887	7,585	1,681
Business	1431	3,761	9,390	334
Non-state militias	874	3,688	3,488	411
Government	866	1,378	2,010	497
Military	655	4,132	3,576	1,338
Religious institutions	284	1,064	2,116	30
Utilities	230	370	137	98
Transportation	228	452	1,090	9
Educational institution	126	142	450	65

Most affected regions

(2013 to 2017)

Region	Attacks	Killed	Injured	Hostages
Baghdad	3821	8,842	25,064	154
Saladin	2210	5,482	8,986	943
Al Anbar	1985	6,582	5,372	4,291
Diyala	1725	3,703	7,459	395
Nineveh	1671	8,396	3,220	5,932
Kirkuk	847	1,743	3,945	5,381
Babil	592	1,599	3,659	268
Basra	80	108	237	6
Arbil	48	409	114	90
Wasit	47	110	334	2
Karbala	44	116	290	0
Dhi Qar	29	129	253	3
Al Qadisiyah	23	20	113	0
Sulaymaniyah	20	19	22	2
Najaf	12	26	82	0
Muthanna	11	53	123	26
Maysan	7	18	83	1
Dihok	5	1	1	1

Terrorist organisations in Iraq

Organisation	Attacks	Killed	Injured	Hostages
Islamic State	3803	22,127	20,966	15,106
Al-Qaida	74	350	927	2
Asa'ib Ahl al-Haqq	57	111	37	91
Al-Naqshabandiya Army	23	123	113	0
Mukhtar Army	4	35	130	0
Pro-Government extremists	4	4	0	0
Kata'ib Hezbollah	3	49	600	1,527
Ansar al-Islam	2	10	6	1
Muslim extremists	2	4	0	1
Badr Brigades	2	0	0	2
Al-Nusrah Front	1	8	0	0

All information sourced from the "National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism" (START) and its Global Terrorism Database. An act of terrorism is concidered every incident which is aimed at attaining a political, economic, religious, or social goal, but not for pure profit motives. In addition these incidents must not be legitimized by warfare activities, listet in the Geneva Conventions of 1949.