Have some estimate of losses from the operations around Mosul. See: us-general-says-800-900-fighters-killed-mosul
This operations have been going on since Monday, October 17, so I am guessing they cover a 10 day or so period.
A few factoids:
- Up to 900 Islamic State fighters killed (source: Gen. Joseph Votel, who heads the U.S. Central Command).
- There are between 3,500 – 5,000 ISIL fighters in Mosul (I assume we have not really engaged them yet).
- Up to another 2,000 ISIL fighters in the broader area (I assume this is who they have been fighting).
- As of late Tuesday Iraq Army had lost 57 killed and 255 or so wounded.
- For the Kurdish Peshmerga the numbers are 30 killed and 70- 100 wounded.
Let me do a little back-of-the-envelope calculations here:
- 900 ISIL killed versus 87 allied killed = 10.3-to-1 exchange ratio. This seems high.
- Wounded-to-killed ratio Iraq Army = 4.47 wounded per killed (this seems low)
- Wounded-to-killed ratio Peshmerga = 3.33 wounded per killed (this seems low)
- Wounded-to-killed ratio ISIL…unknown, but with 900 killed then are there 1,800 are 2,700 wounded…or are there no wounded?
- If there are wounded, then if total ISIL casualties (killed, wounded and missing) are 2,700 – 3,600 and there are 2,000 ISIL fighters in the broader area…..then…….
The body count seems high. What appeared to be more relevant in Vietnam was the number of rifles and other personal weapons taken after the battle. The assumption was that most dead warriors left a weapon on the battlefield. Often the weapon count was less than half the estimated number of killed.
It appears that the estimate of 900 ISIL killed may be high and the Iraq Army and Peshmerga reports of wounded are low. This seems to happen a lot.
