Insurgent groups condemn al-Qaida

NBC: Insurgent groups condemn al-Qaida tactics

By Evan Kohlmann

Rich Gardella and the NBC News Investigative Unit have picked up on my recent postings here on the CTBlog about the growing infighting pitting Sunni insurgents (including avowed jihadists) against Al-Qaida's "Islamic State of Iraq":

"In a development experts call a significant shift, Iraqi insurgent groups are speaking out against al-Qaida and its brutally violent tactics. Last week, two groups, Asaeb al-Iraq al-Jihadiya (aka 'the Iraqi Jihad Union') and the 1920 Revolution Brigades (aka 'Hamas in Iraq') issued statements accusing al-Qaida's Iraq wing, al-Qaida in Iraq, of brutally killing their fighters and commanders, as well as women and children. 'They have killed them and mutilated their bodies,' reads an English translation of the Iraq Jihad Union's statement prepared for the NEFA Foundation, a non-profit terrorism research organization... NBC News terrorism analyst Evan Kohlmann first reported the statements on counterterrorismblog.org. Kohlmann believes such strong public criticism of al-Qaida in Iraq by other insurgent groups in Iraq is a very significant development. With these two new statements last week, Kohlmann says, 'every single major insurgent group — with the exception of the Ansar al-Sunna Army — has now issued a statement condemning al-Qaida. These are hard-core jihadi groups saying this. These are former al-Qaida allies saying this'... Kohlmann, who closely monitors jihadi Web sites, says the statements are causing an online ruckus in jihadi chat forums, with heated exchanges dividing nationalist Islamists who are increasingly critical of al-Qaida and al-Qaida believers who defend it. 'The reaction has been incredible,' Kohlmann says. 'There's a huge outpouring of resentment.' He says there are many angry postings against the groups who have criticized al-Qaida. He says one of the groups just put out a second statement in response, arguing that al-Qaida's online defenders 'don't know what's going on' in Iraq."

For more on this issue, plus further reaction from Brian Fishman at the U.S. Military Academy's Combating Terrorism Center (CTC) at West Point, N.Y., check out the story over at MSNBC.

See also: [CTBLOG] Khawaarij and Jihad: Is Al-Qaida's Network in Iraq Doomed to the Fate of the GIA?

October 12, 2007 05:53 PM Link
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Islam taking al qaeda to haag

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