UNHCR's ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSING THE ...

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