Al-Qa‘ida in Iraq (AQI), also known as the Islamic
State of Iraq (ISI) and more recently the Islamic State of Iraq and
the Levant (ISIL), was established in April 2004 by long-time Sunni
extremist Abu Mus‘ab al-Zarqawi, who the
same year pledged his group’s allegiance to Usama
Bin Ladin. AQI targeted Coalition
forces and civilians using tactics such as
vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBIEDs), suicide bombers,
and executions of hostages by beheading and other means, attempting to
pressure countries and foreign companies to leave Iraq, push Iraqis
to stop supporting the United States and the Iraqi Government, and
attract additional cadre to
its ranks.
Al-Zarqawi was killed in a US airstrike on
7 June 2006. The new leader of AQI, Abu Ayyub
al-Masri, announced in October 2006 the formation of
the Islamic State of Iraq, led by Iraqi national Abu Umar al-Baghdadi,
in an attempt to politicize AQI’s terrorist activities and place an
“Iraqi face” on their efforts.
In 2007 AQI’s continued targeting and repression of
Sunni civilians caused a widespread backlash—known as the Sunni
Awakening—against the group. The development of the Awakening Councils—composed primarily of Sunni tribal and local
community leaders—coincided with a surge in Coalition forces and Iraqi
Government operations that denied AQI its safehavens, restricting the
organization’s freedom of movement and resulting in a decreased
attack tempo beginning in mid-2007.
High-profile attacks in 2009 and 2010 demonstrated
not just the group’s relevance in the wake of the Coalition withdrawal
from Iraqi cities in 2009, but also its efforts to posture itself to
take advantage of the changing security environment. Abu Ayyub
al-Masri and Abu Umar al-Baghdadi were killed in April 2010, marking a
significant loss for the organization.
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi became AQI’s next
leader, and the group has continued conducting
high-profile attacks in Iraq and has made efforts to expand within the
region. Suicide bombers and car bombs during the first half of 2013
caused about 1,000 Iraqi deaths, the highest monthly violent death
tolls since 2008.
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in April 2013 declared the group
was operating in Syria and changed its public name to the Islamic
State of Iraq and the Levant. When al-Baghdadi announced
the creation of the ISIL, he claimed AQI had founded
the al-Nusrah Front in Syria and that the groups were merging.
Al-Nusrah Front, however, denied the merger and publicly pledged
allegiance to al-Qa‘ida leader
Ayman al-Zawahiri.
AQI expanded its targeting outside of Iraq in August
2005 by attempting a rocket attack on a US Navy ship in the Port of
Aqaba, Jordan, and in November 2005 with the bombing of three hotels
in Amman that left 67 dead and more than 150 injured. The group’s
official spokesperson and its leader in 2012 made vague threats
against Americans everywhere. The arrests in May 2011 of two
AQI-affiliated Iraqi refugees in Kentucky highlight the potential threat
inside the United States from people associated with AQI.
Source: http://www.nctc.gov/site/groups/aqi.html
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