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Ansar al-Sunna (AS)
Ansar al-Sunna, formerly Ansar al-Islam, is a Sunni extremist group of Iraqi Kurds and Arabs intent on establishing a Salafist Islamic state in Iraq under Sharia law, a strict interpretation of Koranic instruction. The group is believed to have members located throughout Europe and possibly the United States. AS has worked in the past with al-Qa‘ida senior leadership and al-Qa‘ida in Iraq (AQI), and it has carried out joint operations in Iraq. Some AS members trained in al-Qa‘ida camps in Afghanistan, and the group provided safehaven to al-Qa‘ida fighters in northern Iraq before Operation Iraqi Freedom commenced in March 2003.
AS operates primarily in northern and central Iraq and consistently claims the second largest number of Sunni jihadist attacks in Iraq behind AQI. The group regularly targets Coalition forces, Iraqi Government and security forces, and Iraqi political parties.
AS has claimed responsibility for many high-profile attacks in Iraq, including the suicide bombing of a US military dining facility in Mosul in December 2004 that killed 22 US and Coalition soldiers. AS continues to conduct and claim responsibility for car bombings, assassinations, and kidnappings in Iraq. In May 2007 an agreement was announced between the Islamic Army in Iraq, the Army of the Mujahidin, and some members of AS, to form a united group called “The Jihad and Reformation Front,” according to a statement posted on a jihadi Web site. The group represents a serious challenge to AQI and suggests a deepening rivalry among extremists in the Sunni insurgency.
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