Amman/Brussels, 7 February 2003: The International Crisis Group (ICG)
today publishes a briefing paper on Ansar al-Islam, a small group of radical Islamist fighters
in north eastern Iraq that has become a fresh target in the war on terrorism and a
focus of recent international interest. The briefing paper*,
Radical Islam in Iraqi Kurdistan: the Mouse that Roared?, examines
allegations that this group is beholden to both al-Qaeda and the Iraqi regime
of Saddam Hussein. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell discussed the group's
links to both in his speech to the UN Security Council on 5 February.
Little is certain about the external connections of Ansar
al-Islam, an offshoot of an Islamist movement with a long history in Kurdish politics.
Media interviews of Ansar fighters have usually been conducted in the
presence of their captors, guards of the staunchly secular Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan (PUK). The group itself remains secluded in a narrow wedge of hills
above the Halabja Plain on the Iranian border. What is clear is that the main
support for Ansar al-Islam comes from powerful factions in Iran,
its sole lifeline to the outside world.
There is information that non-Kurdish fighters arrived in
the region from Afghanistan following the U.S.-led war against the Taliban in 2001. Detainees have
described camps where fighters are trained in basic infantry skills and suicide
bombings for possible dispatch throughout the world. Allegations have been made
that al-Qaeda operatives hosted by Ansar al-Islam are working to develop
chemical weapons in the small area it controls – and if substantiated, this
would be extremely serious.
However, ICG Middle East Program Director Robert Malley
said: "This is a region outside Baghdad's control and we see no evidence that
Ansar has a strategic alliance with Saddam Hussein. There is no question that
the group has brought misery to many people in the area it controls, but it is
highly unlikely that Ansar al-Islam is anything more than a minor irritant in
local Kurdish politics".
ICG is not in a position to independently evaluate
statements made by the U.S. Secretary of State on 5 February that a purported
al-Qaeda operative, Abu Musab Zarqawi, established a "poison and explosive
training centre camp" in the small area under Ansar's control. Nor can ICG
evaluate whether the Iraqi regime "has an agent in the most senior level of"
Ansar, as Secretary Powell stated. ICG's assessment is that links between
al-Qaeda and Ansar are possible, but even PUK officials, who stand most to
gain, deny that there is collusion between Ansar and Baghdad.
ICG Middle East Project Director Joost Hiltermann said:
"Profound ideological differences and a history of atrocities committed by the regime against the
Kurds make a strong connection between Saddam Hussein and Ansar al-Islam extremely
unlikely. If there is support from Baghdad, it is likely to be in the form of
financial assistance, motivated by a desire to keep a finger in the pot, stir up
trouble among the Kurds and keep the PUK on the defensive, rather than a strategic
alliance with Ansar's cause. And it must be remembered that this is a small, isolated
group who could muster some 700 fighters at most and who are no match for the PUK.
Ansar al-Islam has been catapulted to a significance that does not
appear warranted by the known facts".
MEDIA CONTACTS
Katy Cronin (London) +44.20.86.82.93.51
email: [email protected]
Francesca Lawe-Davies (Brussels) +32-(0)2-536.00.65
Jennifer Leonard (Washington) +1-202-785 1601
*Read the full ICG report on our website:
www.crisisweb.org
