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Ansar al-Islam: Continuing threats beyond
Kurdistan & Iraq’s borders
21.12.2005
By Lydia Khalil
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Ansar
al-Islam seems to have dropped off the radar screen,
while an even more active and deadly terrorist
organization with similar nomenclature, Ansar al-Sunna,
has emerged in its place. With its membership
scattered and installations decimated, has Ansar
al-Islam disappeared as a coherent force?
Although not as strong as it once was, the arrest of
Ansar al-Islam members in Kurdistan indicates that
there are sleeper cells remaining in the area [1].
Ansar al-Islam members still operate inside Iraq but
are now largely based in predominately Sunni Arab
areas in central Iraq where they are able to operate
more freely. Furthermore, Ansar al-Islam is active
in Europe, recruiting, transporting and even
training jihadists to fight in Iraq.
It has been widely reported that Ansar al-Sunna, a
prolific and capable terrorist organization, is an
offshoot of Ansar al-Islam. Yet the linkage between
Ansar al-Islam and Ansar al-Sunna is not as
straightforward. Many security officials
believe--and arrest patterns indicate--that Kurdish
militants affiliated with Ansar al-Islam have
dispersed in two directions within Iraq. Some Ansar
members are now connected with Zarqawi’s Qaedat
al-Jihad fi Bilad al-Rafidayn (al-Qaeda in Iraq),
and work out of central Iraq. Another wing operates
under the rubric of Ansar al-Sunna [2]. Ansar
al-Islam, for its part, continues to work as a
separate entity within Europe.
Since their emergence in the late 1970s, Kurdish
Salafists have organized themselves in a variety of
different groups and networked with other militants.
They have also easily reconstituted themselves in
different groupings after the splinter or defeat of
a particular organization. For example, Jund
al-Islam reorganized itself as Ansar al-Islam after
its defeat by PUK forces in 2001. Analysts are now
wondering what has become of Ansar al-Islam.
Ansar al-Islam and Ansar al-Sunna Connection
In keeping with their tradition of metamorphosis,
remaining Ansar al-Islam jihadists dispersed into
smaller sleeper cells in Iraqi Kurdistan, migrated
into al-Qaeda-affiliated groups operating in Iraq,
most notably Ansar al-Sunna, or fled to Iran [3].
Ansar al-Islam leaders, such as Abu Abdullah al-Shafei,
Ayoub Afghani and Abu Wa'el, were seen in the
Iranian border city of Sanandaj later that summer,
regrouping their fighters and recruiting new men
[4]. Those who found themselves in Arab Sunni areas
managed to merge with Arab Salafists, marking the
emergence of Ansar al-Sunna.
Ansar al-Sunna formed from an amalgam of jihadists,
not just remnants of Ansar al-Islam. According to
Michael Rubin, one of the first U.S. analysts to
write on the subject, “Ansar al-Sunna, which
officially declared its existence in a September 20,
2003 Internet statement, evolved from the
coalescence of Kurdish Ansar al-Islam operatives,
foreign al-Qaeda terrorists, and newly mobilized
Iraqi Sunnis.”
Additionally, Ansar al-Islam’s casus belli was more
limited than Ansar al-Sunna’s wider objectives.
Ansar al-Islam was formed before the Coalition
occupation of Iraq. It was not formed with the goal
of dispelling the occupying forces, but rather the
defeat of the secular Kurdish leadership. Ansar
al-Islam’s objectives have since evolved to include
resisting the foreign occupation.
There are also personnel and operational linkages
between Ansar al-Islam and Ansar al-Sunna. According
to Kurdish intelligence sources, Abu Abdullah, the
self-styled emir of Ansar al-Sunna, is also said to
be an associate of Abdullah Shaft, a leader of Ansar
al-Islam. It is also reported that Abu Abdullah is
the brother of Abdullah al Shami--an Ansar al-Islam
leader killed while fighting PUK peshmerga in 2003
[5].
Since its inception, Ansar al-Sunna has been
responsible for some of the most vicious attacks in
Iraq, including the coordinated Irbil bombings in
February 2004, the suicide bombing of the Turkish
Embassy in Baghdad, an ambush in which nine Spanish
intelligence officers were killed and a suicide
bombing at a U.S. army base near Mosul on December
21, 2004, which killed 22 people, including 14 U.S.
military personnel.
Associations with the Wider Iraqi Insurgency
Not only is it reported that Ansar al-Islam is
connected to Ansar al-Sunna, but as was the original
claim, Ansar al-Islam is connected to al-Qaeda.
Although Ansar al-Islam has denied this link, U.S.
and European governments, Kurdish security
officials, and journalistic reporting have found
linkages between Ansar al-Islam and al-Qaeda. The
New York Times discovered documents in an al-Qaeda
guest house discussing the creation of an “Iraqi
Kurdistan Islamic Brigade” just weeks prior to the
formation of Ansar al-Islam. Ansar al-Islam members
in PUK custody have confessed to training in
al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
also reportedly entered Iraq with the assistance of
Ansar al-Islam. Italian investigators claim that
Ansar provided a ready-made infrastructure for
al-Qaeda in Iraq [6].
Through their connections with al-Qaeda and the
broader Iraqi insurgency, Kurdish Salafists have
gained strength militarily. The presence of
al-Qaeda-affiliated Arab fighters in Iraq bolstered
Kurdish militants who were demoralized by their
military defeat and lack of popular support. Yet
these connections have also alienated them further
from the majority secular Kurdish population. Recent
attacks perpetrated in Kurdistan have had to be
ordered from bases elsewhere.
European Activities
After its military defeat in Kurdistan, Ansar
al-Islam seemed to find its true calling. Instead of
carrying out operations inside Iraq, those members
who did not flee to Iran or take up with Ansar al-Sunna
and other al-Qaeda affiliates, began putting out
propaganda, and recruiting and smuggling Islamic
militants from Europe to Iraq. It is unclear whether
Ansar al-Islam and Ansar al-Sunna cooperate in
Europe, but Ansar al-Sunna is involved in European
activities as well.
In recent years, security officials have tracked
Ansar activities in Europe and uncovered an
extensive European network that recruits and
smuggles militants from Europe to Iraq via Turkey
and Syria [7]. German federal prosecutors charged
three Iraqi men earlier this month for plotting to
kill former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi during
his visit to Germany in December 2004. One of the
men charged Ata R., is reportedly the senior-most
member of Ansar al-Islam in Germany who coordinated
activities in Germany and other European countries
[8].
Ansar has been particularly active in Italy and
Germany, but they have also surfaced in Scandinavia.
The Finnish investigative program MOT reported that
three men of Kurdish origin from Turku were arrested
in Iraq for suspected contacts with Ansar al-Islam
and Ansar al-Sunna. The leader of the Turku cell
reportedly came to Finland in 1996 and began raising
funds for terrorist operations in Iraq soon after
the war, transferring these funds in the form of
cash transported by individual travelers.
Ansar has also operated in Sweden, raising funds and
training recruits in remote locations, although
Sweden is not a target of terrorist operations.
Ansar al-Sunna released a statement reassuring the
Swedish people that their country was not a target,
but used only as a training base for mujahideen on
their way to operations elsewhere. A September 2005
statement read, “We wish to assure the people of
Sweden that they should not fear our activities in
the country as we operate only training facilities
here in order to prepare our great and Holy
Mujahideen for combat.” Despite Ansar al-Sunna’s
reassurances, two members of a Swedish cell were
arrested and sentenced to prison terms of seven and
six years in respectively May 2005 for planning for
terrorist crimes. Swedish police arrested four Ansar
suspects, who were allegedly involved in the deadly
Irbil bombings in February 2004.
Mullah Krekar
Ansar al-Islam’s spiritual leader Mullah Krekar is
also based in Europe. He left Iraq in 1991 and has
been living under asylum in Norway. Norwegian
officials have accused Krekar of commanding Ansar
militants in Iraq via the internet. Krekar has been
detained a number of times by Norwegian police since
1991, but security officials never accumulated
sufficient evidence to prosecute him.
Labeling him as a threat to national security,
Norway finally revoked his refugee status in 2003
and ruled to extradite him to Iraq. He has
repeatedly appealed the decision and the pending
court cases have kept him in the country. Norwegian
courts again rejected his latest appeal in September
2005, but gave him one month to appeal the decision
again [9].
Threat to the Kurdish Regional Government
In the years after the first Persian Gulf War Ansar
al-Islam posed a significant threat to the Kurdish
Regional Government (KRG). Iraqi Kurds were living
under a precarious autonomy punctuated by a
devastating civil war. Kurdish Salafists took
advantage of the lax security and shifting political
scene to stake out control of the Kurdish region.
The political security dynamic has changed in the
north, however, and what little appeal Salafists had
in Kurdistan is waning. The biggest obstacle to the
growth of Kurdish Salafism is the Kurdish population
itself ,as Salafism will always have limited appeal
in Kurdistan. The PUK has also strengthened its
relationship with Iran, urging it to increase
pressure on displaced Ansar militants.
Despite this, both Ansar al-Islam and Ansar al-Sunna
remain a threat to the KRG, as both organizations
have targeted KRG officials. Ansar al-Islam
assassinated former Irbil governor Franso Hariri,
killed KDP official Sami Abdul Rahman in the Irbil
attack and attempted to assassinate Barham Salih, a
top PUK official.
Kurdish officials are less concerned about the
growth of Salafism in their region, but they are
concerned about Kurdish militants who have moved out
of Kurdistan to direct terrorist attacks from other
locations [10]. The terrain in Kurdistan, like
Afghanistan, is conducive to terrorist operations,
making it difficult to root out militants from the
forbidding Kurdish mountains. KRG control over
outlying areas is still incomplete and will remain a
challenge in the coming years.
Notes
1. Masrour Barzani, head of KDP security, interview
by author, November 14, 2005.
2. Dr. Hani al-Siba'i, “Ansar Al-Islam, Ansar al-Sunna
Army, Abu-Mus'ab al-Zarqawi, and Abu-Hafs Brigades”
14 March 2004 Al-Basrah Net.
3. Masrour Barzani, head of KDP security, interview
by author, November 14, 2005
4. “Ansar al-Islam Takes on the U.S.” Janes
International Security News, March 8, 2004.
5. “Iraq’s New Terrorist Threat: Ansar al-Sunna”
Middle East February 2005.
6. “Iraq: Alleged Terrorist Leader to be Deported
from Norway,” Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty,
April 2, 2005.
7. “In Europe, New Force for Recruiting Radicals”
Washington Post Foreign Service. February 18, 2005.
8. “Germany Accuses Three Iraqis of Allawi Death
Plot.” Deutsche Welle, November 17, 2005.
9. “Norway Court Rules to Expel Muslim Leader to
Iraq.” Gulf News September 30, 2005.
www.gulfnews.com
10. Masrour Barzani, head of KDP security, interview
by author, November 14, 2005.
www.jamestown.org
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