Iraq: January 4, 2004

Archives

Kurd and US sources reported the arrest of Mullah Krekar, the Kurdish founder of Al Qaeda-ally Ansar Al-Islam on January 2nd in Norway. Interestingly enough, Krekar was arrested on a charge of conspiracy to commit murder, not charges of terrorism. Krekar allegedly planned the murders of several potential Kurdish rivals in 2000. Krekar had been held in Norway on terrorism charges, but was released in April 2003.  Norwegian prosecutors have been given a month to formally make their case. It will be interesting to see if prosecutors eventually tie Krekar to terrorist activity in Iraq. Ansar Al-Islam is thought to be a damaged organization, but several attacks on coalition forces in northern Iraq have been tied to Ansar Al Islam militants. Obviously, Krekar wasnt directly involved in those specific attacks after the collapse of Saddan Husseins Baath regime. However, for almost two years Ansar Al-Islam carried on a small-scale war against Iraqi Kurds.


 

X

ad

Help Keep Us From Drying Up

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling.

Each month we count on your contribute. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
Subscribe   contribute   Close