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Several groups, including the Mujahedeen Shura Council, 83 the Jaish Al-Fatiheen (a breakaway<br />
from the Islamic Army in Iraq), Jund Al-Sahaba, Kataeb Ansar Al-Tawheed Wal-<br />
Sunna and several tribal chiefs, 84 announced the establishment of the Islamic State of Iraq<br />
on 15 October 2006. According to these groups, the Islamic State of Iraq consists of Sunni<br />
areas of Baghdad and the Governorates of Al-Anbar, Diyala, Kirkuk, Salah Al-Din, Ninewa<br />
and parts of Babil and Wassit. Abu Omar Al-Hussaini Al-Qurahsi Al-Baghdadi has been<br />
declared the state’s Emir. 85 Other groups, which appear to be composed of former regime<br />
officials, members of the former security and intelligence agencies and paramilitary forces,<br />
include, but are not limited to, Al-Awda, Al-Awda Al-Jadida and the New Ba’ath Party.<br />
Also Mohammed’s Army (Jaish Mohammed) is believed to have links to former Ba’athists.<br />
Other Sunni groups, some with a more Islamist orientation, others with a more nationalist<br />
orientation, include, inter alia, the Islamic Army in Iraq (Al-Jaish Al-Islami fil-Iraq), the<br />
1920 Revolutionary Brigade (Kata’ib Thawrat ‘Ashrin), Al-Rashideen Army (Jaish Al-<br />
Rashideen), Jaish Al-Mujahideen, Jihad Factions of Iraq (Asaeb Al-Iraq Al-Jihadiya), Abu<br />
Bakr Al-Siddiq Army, Al-Qassas Brigade (Revenge Brigades), Salahuddin Al-Ayyubi<br />
Brigades (Iraqi Islamic Resistance Front), Saraya Al-Dawa Wal Ribat (Missionary and<br />
Frontier Guarding Movement). 86 Yet other groups appear locally or only in relation to<br />
a certain event. For example, the Fallujah Mujahideen is a group with suspected links to<br />
Al-Qa’eda in Iraq and operates exclusively in the city of Fallujah. 87 The Mujahideen of<br />
Nineveh abducted three members of the Iraqi Independent Electoral Commission prior to<br />
the January 2005 elections in Mosul and threatened attacks against polling stations. 88<br />
While these groups do not necessarily share a common ideology, they are unified by<br />
a common desire to expel the MNF from Iraq and undermine the new political order in the<br />
country. 89 Other goals, however, vary. Al-Qa’eda in Iraq and Ansar Al-Sunna, for example,<br />
83 The Mujahedeen Shura Council operated as an umbrella organization with the goal of unifying Iraqi<br />
insurgent efforts. It included Al-Qa’eda in Iraq, the Victorious Army Group (Jaish Al-Taifa Al-Mansoura),<br />
Monotheism Supporters Brigades, Saray Al-Jihad Group, Al-Ghuraba Brigades, Al-Ahwal Brigades, Army of<br />
Al-Sunnah Wal Jama’a and possibly, despite its Salafist/Islamist orientation, more nationalist groups; see<br />
MIPT Terrorism Knowledge, Mujahideen Shura Council, http://www.tkb.org/Group. jsp?groupID=4575 [last<br />
updated 16 January 2007]; SITE Institute, The Army of al-Sunnah Wal Jama’a Announces its Intention to Join<br />
the Mujahideen Shura Council, which is Accepted by the Council, 30 January 2006,<br />
http://www.siteinstitute.org/bin/articles.cgi?ID=publications143306&Category=publications&Subcategory=0.<br />
84 According to commander Abu Omar Al-Hussaini Al-Qurahsi Al-Baghdadi of the Islamic State, the<br />
following tribes are represented: Al-Dulaim, Al-Jabbour, Al-Obaid, Zoubaa, Qays, Azza, Al-Tai, Al-<br />
Janabiyeen, Al-Halalyeen, Al-Mushahada, Al-Dayniya, Bani Zayd, Al-Mujamaa, Bani Shammar, Ineza, Al-<br />
Suwaidah, Al-Nuaim, Khazraj, Bani Al-Heem, Al-Buhayrat, Bani Hamdan, Al-Saadun, Al-Ghanem, Al-<br />
Saadiya, Al-Maawid, Al-Karabla, Al-Salman and Al-Qubaysat. See: Evan F. Kohlmann, State of the Sunni<br />
Insurgency in Iraq: 2006, Global Terror Alert, 29 December 2006, p. 2, http://www.globalterroralert.com/<br />
pdf/1206/iraqinsurgency1206.pdf.<br />
85 MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base, Mujahideen Shura Council, see above footnote 83; Kohlmann,<br />
ibidem.<br />
86 Kohlmann, see above footnote 84. For profiles of the various groups, see MIPT Terrorism Knowledge<br />
Base, Iraq, http://www.tkb.org/Country.jsp?countryCd=IZ. See also: UNHCR, 2005 Country of Origin<br />
Information Iraq, p. 66-73, see above footnote 53.<br />
87 MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base, Fallujah Mujahideen, http://www.tkb.org/Group. jsp?groupID=4550<br />
[last updated 16 January 2007].<br />
88 MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base, Ninawa Mujahideen in the City of Mosul, http://www.tkb.org/Group.<br />
jsp?groupID=4539 [last updated 16 January 2007].<br />
89 See, for example, Iraq Study Group Report, p. 10, see above footnote 35.<br />
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