SUMMARY

The one-sided violence of Ansar al-Islam (using the name Army of Ansar al-Sunna during 2004-07) is best understood in the context of the intrastate conflict activity that started in the country in 2004 (see Iraq: Government. Ansar al-Islam had previously tried to establish a stronghold in northern Iraq but was forced into exile in the aftermath of the interstate conflict between Iraq and the coalition led by the USA, the UK and Australia in 2003.

Ansar al-Islam proclaimed that it considered everyone working with the Iraqi government or the foreign secondary supporting forces as a legitimate target. In order to maximize the attention for its activities and to promote its agenda of replacing the government, the group often captured its victims and then published footage of the executions on the internet. Most of the victims of Ansar al-Islam's one-sided violence were truck drivers or low-level employees working for government or US-owned companies.

Apart from the kidnappings and executions, there were also a few instances when the Ansar al-Islam used bombs against civilians. In these events, the targets were mostly state-run buses transporting civilian employees and other types of events which were expected to draw a crowd of government-affiliated people, such as funerals.

The Ansar al-Islam first became active as a one-sided actor in UCDP data in 2004, when the one-sided violence resulted in at least 25 civilian deaths. The threshold was reached on 13 September 2004 when three Iraqi truck drivers delivering material to the US forces were kidnapped and executed near Basra in southern Iraq. This type of incident was typical of the modus operandi of Ansar al-Islam, as the group earlier in the year had executed several similar attacks, taking the number of civilian deaths in 2004 to over 25.