ISIS Inc: Iraqi militants' 'annual report' of blood and violence

The dreadful Al Qaeda-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and Syria maintains an annual log of suicide missions, bombings and assassinations that reads like a company account.
Sunni rebels from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria -- who have stormed Iraq’s big cities like Mosul and Tikrit, taken over its largest oil refinery and slowly marching on to Baghdad, leaving a trail of blood and death -- as a part of its image-building has done something only major corporations do at the end of the year: issues annual reports, outlining its attacks, assassinations and terror acts.

Compiled by Roshneesh K'Maneck

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There are well collated facts, figures, tables and looks like a set of accounts of a company. But these are no ordinary figures. This is a chilling breakdown of the murderous activities of the fanatics battling for control of Iraq. This is the ‘annual report’ of ISIS, designed to demonstrate its power and attract funds from potential donors.

Since 2012, ISIS has been issuing reports outlining in numerical and geographical detail its operations -- the number of bombings, assassinations, checkpoints, suicide missions, cities taken over and even “apostates” converted to the ISIS cause.

According to its last report titled ‘al-Naba’ – the News – ISIS claims to have carried out nearly 10,000 operations in Iraq. That includes 1,000 assassinations, planting more than 4,000 roadside bombs and freeing hundreds of prisoners.

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The 400-page report, analysed by a United States' think thank Institute for the Study of War, contain two important features -- the first they are organised by attack type. The attack types include assassination, armed attack, bombing (mortars, grenade launchers, and rockets), suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices, suicide vests, improvised explosive devices, knife attacks, apostates repented, cities taken over and checkpoints set up.

The report further states:

- There were 1,083 assassinations in 2013, up from 585 the year before

- 4,465 IED attacks, up from 2,764 in 2012

- 9,540 total operations, more than double the 4,500 reported year before

- Hundreds of fellow-radicals freed from Iraqi prisons.

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The report also breaks down the figures by operating area. According to the report, the ISIS has been targeting Baghdad, Ninewa, South, Diyala, Anbar and Kirkuk. Its report adds that 38 per cent of its attacks in 2012 and nearly 33 per cent of their 2013 attacks were in Nineveh.

In its 2013 document, ISIS says it took over eight cities, compared to one the previous year.

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ISIS now claims in its reports to have at least 15,000 fighters under its command — and it’s reportedly been funding fanaticism through smuggling oil in Syria, kidnappings and extorting money from local businesses like old-school mobsters.

ISIS is also now the richest terror group ever after it looted over $400 million from the central bank of the Iraqi city of Mosul -- the first town it overran with virtually no resistance as part of its Blitz offensive.

“The reports provide measures of performance in the way you roll out details for donors,” said Jessica Lewis, director of research at the Washington-based think tank. “They affirm that the organisation operates like an army and this it has state-building ambitions.”