FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS February 20, 2003JS-48 The United States government is taking action today to designate Ansar al-Islam (AI), formerly known as Jund al-Islam, as a terrorist group with links to Al-Qa’ida and to notify the United Nations to ensure that any assets or transactions related to this group are frozen internationally. AI is a terrorist group operating in northeastern Iraq with close links to and support from al-Qa’ida. Al-Qa’ida and Usama bin Laden participated in the formation and funding of Ansar al-Islam, and AI has provided safe haven to al-Qa’ida in northeastern Iraq. AI’s predecessor, Jund al-Islam, was formed in September 2001. AI came into being with the “blessing” of bin Laden after its leaders visited al-Qa’ida in Afghanistan in 2000 and 2001. Bin Laden provided AI with an estimated $300,000 to $600,000 in seed money. AI has acknowledged that it contracted “Islamic figures abroad” before declaring jihad in northeastern Iraq. Ansar al-Islam has received training and logistical assistance from al-Qa’ida. Groups of AI’s Kurdish members have traveled to Afghanistan to train with al-Qa’ida, while AI’s foreign members are believed to be al-Qa’ida-trained veterans of conflicts in Afghanistan and Chechnya. Ansar al-Islam has a close association with senior al-Qa’ida operative Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a poisons and chemical weapons expert whose network has established a poison and explosives training camp in the area of northeastern Iraq that is controlled by Ansar al-Islam. Zarqawi’s lieutenants help run this camp, which teaches operatives how to produce ricin and other poisons. Ansar al-Islam (whose cadres include Kurdish, Arab, and Pashtun members) has declared “jihad” against secular and non-Islamic groups in northeastern Iraq and conducts violent attacks against Kurdish groups in the region, such as the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). |
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