Al-Qaida Continues Attacks on Fellow Sunni Militants

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Last Updated (Monday, 29 November 1999 19:00) Written by Evan Kohlmann Sunday, 30 September 2007 19:00

Over the past two weeks, Al-Qaida's "Islamic State of Iraq" has continued to escalate its campaign of public accusations blasting fellow Sunni insurgents for "deviating" from the path of legitimate jihad and working directly with U.S. military forces in Iraq. The latest target of Al-Qaida's wrath has been the 1920 Revolution Brigades, a prominent Muslim Brotherhood-linked militant group which has issued a frantic flurry of recent statements denying any role in aiding American "occupiers." Yet, according to a statement released by Al-Qaida's Islamic State on September 22, the actual state of affairs is quite a different story: “The 1920 Revolution Brigades were part of the original resistance against the crusaders... Subsequently, the 1920 Revolution Brigades split into two wings: one was ‘Hamas in Iraq’ under the leadership of Mohammed Ayyash al-Kubaisi... who formed the Association of Muslim Scholars which aimed to mislead the general public and to legitimatize the actions and principles [of Hamas in Iraq]. The second wing kept its original name and is still known as the 1920 Revolution Brigades... Militias that were part of Hamas in Iraq in the Diyala region worked side-by-side with crusader forces and helped them spy on the mujahideen... In contrast, the 1920 Revolution Brigades decided to adopt a more conniving role by publicly denying their assistance to American forces but simultaneously acting in the same manner as their sister brigades from Hamas in Iraq. The 1920 Revolution Brigades established their own militias that fought alongside American forces in the areas of Abu Ghraib, Radwaniyya, and southern Baghdad."

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