SUMMARY

Ansar al-Islam (Supporters of Islam) was an insurgent organisation in Iraq fighting for an Islamic state based on sharia law. The group was often in the beginning mentioned with the suffix “fi Kurdistan” (in Kurdistan) to designate its geographical origin. From 20 September 2003 to 28 November 2007, the group used the name JAAS (Jaish Ansar al-Sunna, Army of the Protectors of the Faith). It was reported that JAAS had formed after one of several splits within Ansar al-Islam in 2002, but a statement from JAAS in November 2007 announced that the group then reverted to its original name, Ansar al-Islam.

Ansar al-Islam was formed in December 2001 as a merger between the groups Jund al-Islam (Soldiers of Islam) and parts of the IMK (Islamic Movement of Kurdistan). Jund al-Islam had been formed just three months earlier in a merger of other factions that had left IMK in 1997-2000 (in particular Kurdish Hamas, Second Soran Unit, and the al-Tawhid). The IMK was originally established as a political umbrella organisation for Sunni Muslims in northern Iraq in the 1980s and have contested elections since 1992. The different factions that left the organisation were critical of IMK’s willingness to cooperate with Kurdish parties in the region, and had been influenced by former volunteers from the Afghanistan conflict settling in northern Iraq during the early 1990s.

There have been allegations of numerous government links to Ansar al-Islam, especially during 2001-2003. It was reported that the group received support from, and/or was infiltrated by, the Iraqi administration of Saddam Hussein as a means of fighting Kurdish armed groups in northern Iraq. Furthermore, there were numerous claims that Ansar al-Islam received support from Iran, but little evidence was presented apart from the ease with which its members crossed the border, where wounded fighters were given medical care.

There have also been repeated allegations of connections between Ansar al-Islam and al-Qaida, and that the group received financial support on its formation by an emissary from Osama bin Laden. It is probable that some members of Ansar al-Islam were linked to al-Qaida following their Afghan experiences, but there is little evidence that the al-Qaida leadership has provided more than occasional advice or funds. Ansar al-Islam co-operated with other Iraqi insurgent groups, in particular the ISI (Islamic State in Iraq) and its affiliates. In May 2007, a breakaway faction of Ansar al-Islam calling itself the “sharia council” left the organisation and joined the RJF (Reformation and Jihad Front).

There is little information about the leadership of Ansar al-Islam, but it is believed that one of the more important political figures was Faraj Ahmad Najmuddin, or Mullah Fatah Krekar, an exiled former military commander of IMK.

Ansar al-Islam has been involved in the intrastate, non-state and one-sided categories of UCDP organised violence.