20 Facts About Ansar al-Islam

Ansar al-Islam in Kurdistan, simply called Ansar al-Islam, nicknamed the Kurdish Taliban, is a Kurdish Islamist militant and separatist group.

On 29 August 2014,50 members and commanders of Ansar al-Islam announced that they were joining ISIS individually, however Ansar al-Islam continued to oppose ISIS and kept functioning independently.

Ansar al-Islam seeks to establish an "Islamic state" under Sharia law, as well as to obtain and preserve the "legitimate rights" of the Kurds.

Ansar al-Islam was formed in September 2001 from a merger of Jund al-Islam, led by Abu Abdullah al-Shafi'i, and a splinter group from the Kurdistan Islamic Movement led by Mullah Krekar.

Krekar became the leader of the merged Ansar al-Islam, which opposed an agreement made between IMK and the dominant Kurdish group in the area, Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

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Ansar al-Islam initially comprised approximately 300 men, many of them Kurdish veterans of Jihad in the Soviet–Afghan War.

Former prisoners of the group claim that Ansar al-Islam routinely used torture and severe beatings when interrogating prisoners.

In September 2003, members of Ansar al-Islam, who had fled to Iran after the 2003 joint Iraqi-US operation against them, announced the creation of a group called Jamaat Ansar al-Sunna, which was mostly Arab and was dedicated to expelling US forces from Iraq.

Ansar al-Islam al-Sunna became a prominent insurgent group active in the so-called Sunni Triangle, carrying out kidnappings, suicide bombings, and guerilla attacks.

Ansar al-Islam remained active after the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq of 2011, taking part in the insurgency against Iraq's central government.

Ansar al-Islam has established a presence in Syria to take part in the Syrian Civil War, initially under the name of "Ansar al-Sham", later under its own name.

Ansar al-Islam remained functioning when many high-ranking members joined ISIS.

On 30 October 2019, Ansar al-Islam claimed responsibility for an IED attack on a Popular Mobilization Forces vehicle in the Diyala Governorate in northeastern Iraq.

In January 2003, the US alleged that Ansar al-Islam provided a possible link between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda, and said to prepare to unveil new evidence of it.

In March–April 2003, BBC reported that a captured Iraqi intelligence officer had indicated that a senior Ansar al-Islam leader, Abu Wail, was a former Iraqi intelligence officer.

The Defense Intelligence Agency stated that senior Ansar al-Islam detainees revealed that the group viewed Saddam's regime as apostates, and denied any relationship with them.

US terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna, who supported Krekar against the claims that Ansar al-Islam had ties to Saddam Hussein, confirmed that Ansar al-Islam had ties to al-Qaeda.

On February 18,2001, four Kurdish Ansar al-Islam members assassinated Franso Hariri while he was on his way to work.

In March 22,2003, Ansar al-Islam detonated a car bomb, killing Australian journalist Paul Moran and several others.

In November 2008, an archbishop in Mosul received a threat signed by the "Ansar al-Islam brigades", warning all Christians to leave Iraq or else be killed.