SUMMARY
Following the victory by the USA, the UK, and Australia against Iraq in the 2003 conflict, the Saddam Hussein administration was replaced by a new government. Forces from a coalition of countries remained in Iraq to support the new government in providing security, policing, and reconstruction in the years that followed.
The ousting of the Saddam Hussein regime was originally supported by most of the country's Shia population as it had been repressed by the previous administration. In early 2004, political discontent with the new government became increasingly vocal also in parts of the Shia population, especially regarding the continued presence of foreign forces in the country, and several militia groups started to emerge. One of these militias, AAH (Asaib Ahl al-Haqq), split from the larger Shi’a group al-Mahdi Army in 2004. Although the group claims to have launched more than 6000 attacks over the years, it was not included in UCDP data until 2009. It is likely that the group had passed the threshold for inclusion earlier, but due to the lack of reliable information, it has often been impossible to assign individual attacks to specific groups.
Since its formation, AAH has repeatedly claimed to only target the coalition forces, denying any attacks on civilians. However, in 2009, AAH detonated a number of car bombs in public places in Baghdad. Given the location of the bombs, these attacks could only be seen as aimed against civilians. Despite frequent Sunni accusations of AAH having killed civilians, the Iraqi government has since mid-2009 started to treat the group as a political party. Some have argued that this move was necessary for Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in order to secure enough Shi’a support in the general election in 2010.
AAH first became active as a one-sided actor in UCDP data in 2009, when the one-sided violence resulted in over 25 civilian deaths. The threshold was crossed on 6 April 2009 when the AAH detonated several car bombs in public places in Baghdad, killing 32 people.
