Ansar al-Islam, Supporters of Islam, Jund al-Islam, Soldiers of God, Ansar al-Sunna

Northern Iraq, especially near the Iranian border. The group has operated throughout northern Iraq, and may use Iranian territory as a safe haven.

To expel the U.S.-led coalition from Iraq and establish an independent Islamic state in Iraq.

Ansar al-Islam (AI) is believed to have between 700 and 1,000 fighters. It is the second-largest terrorist group in Iraq behind Al-Qaida in Iraq.

Al-Qaida is believed to have played a role in the formation of AI and likely still provides equipment and funding for training. Ansar al-Islam also has an extensive network in Europe organizing finance and support for armed attacks within Iraq. Suspected members of the group have been arrested in Europe, including some in Germany and Norway.

The group opposes secular Kurds, primarily focusing on the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) political faction. AI members have been implicated in assassinations and assassination attempts against PUK officials, and have worked in conjunction with operatives from Al-Qaida and Al-Qaida in Iraq. However, AI has a competitive relationship with Al-Qaida in Iraq and did not join its "Islamic State of Iraq." AI members claim to have produced cyanide-based toxins, ricin and aflatoxin for use as weapons. After Operation Iraqi Freedom was launched, U.S. officials blamed Ansar al-Islam for suicide bombings against coalition forces.

Ansar al-Islam was established in December 2001 after a merger between Jund al-Islam, led by Abu Abdallah al-Shafii, and an Islamic movement group led by Mullah Krekar. Jund was a collection of smaller groups that broke off from the Islamic Movement of Kurdistan in the mid-1990s. Both leaders are believed to have fought against the Soviet occupation in Afghanistan.
 
Krekar was arrested several times in Norway, where he lived in exile for more than a dozen years. Krekar is under house arrest awaiting extradition as soon as sufficient human-rights assurances are received from Iraq. Shafii reportedly assumed leadership of the group in late 2003.
 
The AI group suffered significant losses from heavy allied bombing attacks on its base in Biyara during the allied invasion of Iraq. It has since replenished its ranks with new recruits and foreign fighters.

Ansar al-Islam has a history of changing affiliations within militant groups. The group used the name of Ansar al-Sunna for many years, but in November 2007 the group issued a statement that its leadership had agreed to revert to its original name of Ansar al-Islam. The statement further urged members to avoid internal conflicts. The group claims an affiliation with Al-Qaida in Iraq, but the strength of these ties is unclear. The group has criticized a coalition of insurgent forces known as the Reformation and Jihad Front. In July 2008, AI accused the front of collusion with the U.S. The front itself has experienced several incidents of internal conflicts and defections.

2001
September: Fighting broke out between Jund al-Islam and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.
 
December: Jund al-Islam merged with group led by Mullah Krekar to form Ansar al-Islam.
 
2003
Aug. 7: Militants bombed the Jordanian Embassy in Iraq, killing 19. AI was believed to be responsible for the attack.
 
Aug. 19: Twenty-two people, including the chief of mission, died when a truck bomb exploded next to the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad. AI was later implicated. The U.N. subsequently withdrew all but around 50 staff from Iraq.
 
Aug. 29: A car bomb attack in the city of Najaf killed at least 85 people, including one of Shia Islam's top clerics. The attack took place outside the Imam Ali Mosque as hundreds of people left at the end of prayers. AI was believed to be responsible for the attack.
 
2004
Jan. 2: Krekar was arrested again on suspicion of involvement in an AI suicide bombing in northern Iraq.
 
Feb. 1: AI suicide bombers struck the offices of two main Kurdish political parties in Irbil, killing 109 Kurds.
 
March 17: Suspected AI members bombed Mount Lebanon Hotel in Baghdad, killing seven and wounding more than 30.

March 22: The U.S. State Dept. designated Ansar al-Islam as a foreign terrorist organization.
 
April 14-19: Twenty members of Ansar al-Islam, who were allegedly planning attacks against U.S.-led coalition forces, were arrested in northern Iraq.
 
April 21: Alleged AI members killed 74 people in a series of car bomb attacks in Basra, Iraq.
 
April 28: Several suspected AI members were arrested by Turkish officials for allegedly planning to set off a bomb at a June NATO summit and to launch suicide attacks against President Bush and other Western leaders planning to attend the event.
 
Dec. 21: A suicide bomber blew himself up inside a U.S. military mess tent, killing 22 people, most of whom were Americans. Ansar al-Sunna claimed responsibility for the attack.
 
2005
Jan. 29: Militants shot down a British C-130 Hercules cargo plane in central Iraq. AI claimed responsibility, saying it used an anti-tank missile to down the plane.
 
May 13: A Norwegian court rejected an appeal of an earlier ruling stripping Krekar of refugee status; it ruled that he should be expelled from Norway as a threat to national security.
 
2006
May 9: The trial began in Germany of three men charged with membership in and/or support of AI, insurance fraud and attempted procurement of enriched uranium for a "dirty bomb."
 
June 12: An Iraqi was arrested in Germany on suspicion of providing financial and logistical support to AI.
 
June 20: The trial began for three alleged Iraqi members of AI charged by German prosecutors with a plot to assassinate former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi during his visit to Berlin.
 
2007
April: AI claimed responsibility for the execution-style killing of nearly two dozen Yazidi civilians in Mosul in northern Iraq.
 
June 25: The Bavarian Supreme Court sentenced two individuals to prison for supporting AI and violations of Germany's foreign trade law for transferring money to AI members in Iraq.
 
July: AI established a recruiting cell in Catalonia to route would-be suicide bombers from Spain to Iraq, according to Spanish media accounts.
 
July: AI claimed responsibility for the car-bombing of a police convoy in the Iraqi province of Kirkuk.
 
October: Krekar lost his final appeal of Norway's expulsion order. Since Norwegian authorities said there were insufficient human-rights assurances from Iraq to proceed with deportation, Krekar was expected to remain in Norway.
 
October: AI claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing of Kurdistan Democratic Party offices in Khursbat in Ninawa province in northern Iraq.

2008
April: In various attacks during April, AI militants in Baqubah, the provincial capital of Diyala, bombed a Mahdi Army checkpoint, resulting in six fatalities. The group also assassinated an Iraqi policeman and set off an explosion in a home that killed two people.

May 12: The group reportedly shelled a U.S. military facility at Al-Lahum in southern Iraq.

July: Ansar al-Islam militants set off a roadside bomb against a convoy of Iraqi national guardsmen travelling through Mosul.

July 16: Three Ansar al-Islam operatives were convicted of terrorism charges by a German court. The operatives had been arrested in December 2004 and accused of plotting to assassinate then-Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi during a reception in Berlin.

Aug. 13: The group claimed responsibility for an attack on a barracks in Peshmerga that killed nine people and destroyed two vehicles.

2009
January: AI leader Abu Wael called for cooperation between insurgents in Iraq and the Palestinian resistance. Wael said that the Iraqi insurgency assisted the Palestinian cost. "For the first time, the United States was unable to intervene directly in the war to support the Zionists. This was achieved with the help of God, but also because of the strikes of the mujahideen in Iraq," he said. The AI leader also called upon Hamas to give up its political goals and focus on jihad.

July 24: The U.S. military arrested Fakri Hadi Gari, a leading Ansar al-Islam operative also known as Abu Abbas and Mullah Halgurd, along with nine other people during a raid in Mosul. Gari was suspected of organizing AI attacks and engaging in recruiting and financing activities. Gara was also believed to have facilitated the movement of terrorists across the borders of Iraq, said the U.S. military.