NEFA Foundation: Al-Qaida Loses Yet Another Sunni Insurgent Ally in Iraq Amid Allegations of "Threats" and "Blackmail"

By Evan Kohlmann

The Army of al-Mustafa (a.k.a. “Jaish al-Mustafa”)—a Sunni insurgent group which has claimed credit for at least three joint operations with Al-Qaida’s “Islamic State of Iraq” (ISI) since January 2008—has suddenly broken off relations with the ISI, accusing its local commanders of engaging in “threats” and “blackmail.” In a statement released on April 15, a Jaish al-Mustafa field commander known as “Abu Muslim al-Mosuli” acknowledged a past relationship with the ISI but added, “something has occurred that we never expected would happen: some new leaders from the ISI in Ninewah province have begun to harass our fighters during their operations. The situation escalated to the point of the ISI threatening one of our field commanders with death for no apparent reason… We see no justification for the acts carried out by the brothers from the ISI—they have blackmailed us, threatened us, and seized the assets of the Army of al-Mustafa.” A follow-up statement released by Jaish al-Mustafa on April 16 insisted that the group has no intention of “sabotaging efforts by Shaykh Abu Omar [al-Baghdadi] or any other individual. We would be delighted if such unity and collaboration took place among the various factions.” However, the statement also flatly rejected the premise that the “Army of al-Mustafa” has ever “tried very hard to associate ourselves with the ISI”: “we require no such association… If we had wished to associate ourselves with the ISI, we would have pledged our allegiance to them.”