Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

566 • QA’EDA IN IRAQ, ALwhen it pledged allegiance to the main al Qa’eda group and changedits name to the Tanzim Qaidat al-Jihad fi Bilad al-Rafidayn, or alQa’eda Organization for Jihad in the Land of the Two Rivers, whichis reported usually as al Qa’eda in Iraq or al Qa’eda in Mesopotamia.It also adopted the name of the Mujahideen Shura Council inJanuary 2006 in an attempt to forge an alliance with five other Sunniinsurgent groups. Failing to create a lasting alliance of insurgents,the AQI in October 2006 then adopted the name al Dawlat al Iraq al-Islamiyya, or Islamic State of Iraq, which continues to be the nameunder which it claims credit for its attacks.The group was founded by Abu Musab al Zarqawi, a Jordanianwho entered Afghanistan just after the exit of Soviet forces and whobecame a beneficiary of al Qa’eda, which funded his terrorist trainingcamp for fellow Jordanians near Herat, in western Afghanistan.During the October 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan followingthe World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks of September 11,2001, al Zarqawi suffered wounds to his leg and fled to Iraq where hereceived medical treatment and apparently enjoyed de facto asylumby the government of Saddam Hussein. After al Zarqawi was killedby U.S. forces on 6 June 2006, leadership of the AQI passed to anEgyptian, Abu Hamza al Masri.According to the Memorial Institute of Terrorism database, theAQI was responsible for at least 216 terrorist incidents causing 1,888deaths and injuring 3,764. These are conservative figures, and thereis disagreement over the extent of AQI attacks, with the U.S. CentralIntelligence Agency (CIA) and U.S. Defense Intelligence Agencyclaiming much higher figures, which in turn have been challenged bythe U.S. Congressional Research Service as having been inflated forpolitical purposes. The AQI has used a number of tactics, includinguse of rocket-propelled grenade attacks on armored vehicles, use ofimprovised explosive devices (IEDs) in bombings of U.S. and Iraqigovernment forces, assassinations, suicide attacks, kidnappings,and videotaped beheadings of foreign workers, diplomats, and capturedU.S. soldiers. The AQI gained notoriety for the televising of avideotape showing the beheading on 7 May 2004 of Nicholas Berg,an American civilian whom they captured in Iraq. The AQI ceasedits beheadings of captives following its October 2004 merger with alQa’eda, apparently due to al Qa’eda’s criticism of this tactic, whichwas alienating Muslim public opinion. Another questionable tactic of