Islamist insurgency in the Kurdistan Region refers to a series of armed conflicts and attacks involving Islamist militant's in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq including surrounding areas. The insurgency began with the clashes between the Islamic Movement in Kurdistan and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan in 1993-1994 and the establishment of the Islamic Emirate of Kurdistan in 1994 which later evolved into the conflict between the Kurdish government and Ansar al-Islam from 2001 to 2003, which ended with the defeat and dissolution of the Islamic Emirate of Kurdistan. Following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Islamist militants continued to carry out attacks in the region mostly against civilians and some government officials. From 2014 onwards, Kurdish forces fought the Islamic State in and around Iraqi Kurdistan, where it was defeated in 2017, followed by a low-scale ongoing insurgency after its territorial defeat.
Background The Kurdistan Region of Iraq is an autonomous region in northern Iraq. Kurdish self-rule developed after the 1991 uprising against the Iraqi government and the establishment of a no-fly zone over northern Iraq. Following parliamentary elections in 1992, Kurdish parties established a regional parliament and government. The region’s status as a federal entity within Iraq was formally recognized by the 2005 Iraqi Constitution.
Islamist political forces were mainly represented by the Islamic Movement in Kurdistan (IMK), founded in 1987. By the mid-1990s, the IMK had become the third-largest political and military force in the Kurdish region after the KDP and PUK. The movement operated largely outside the joint Kurdish administration and established its own political and military infrastructure in areas it controlled, particularly in Hawraman and Sharazur. A number of Iraqi Kurds affiliated with Ansar al-Islam, including key leaders, were veterans of the Soviet-Afghan war. They had spent time in Afghanistan, initially fighting against Soviet forces during the 1980s. Representatives of other Iraqi Kurdish Islamist groups with links to Ansar al-Islam told Human Rights Watch that a small number of Iraqi Kurds affiliated with the group had also fought alongside the Taliban before returning to Iraqi Kurdistan after its defeat. Insurgency 1993–1994 clashes From late October 1993 to early 1994, fighting took place across much of northern Iraq between the Islamic Movement in Kurdistan (IMK), led by Mullah Othman Abdul Aziz, and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). The fighting was extensive, with PUK forces reportedly capturing IMK military bases in Rawanduz, Shaqlawa, Harir, Diyana, Char-Quran, Hajiwa, and the IMK’s main military base, the Salahadin Garrison near Ranya, in late December 1993. The IMK headquarters at Betwata, near the Iranian border, was also captured. Fighting reportedly spread as far south as Halabja. The IMK was forced to withdraw toward the Iranian border. When the Kurdish civil war broke out between the KDP and PUK in May 1994, IMK forces fought alongside the KDP against the PUK. The IMK later returned to its strongholds in Hawraman and Sharazur, where it maintained its own political and military infrastructure. The war ended with a US-brokered peace agreement in 1998. Ansar al-Islam
Following the fighting, Hamas emerged, an armed Islamist group around Khurmal and split from the IMK in 1997 after the latter agreed to participate in the PUK government. Hamas opposed cooperation with secular parties and was led by Umar Abdul Karim Abdul Aziz (Umar Barzani), who had fought in Afghanistan. Tawhid, led by Mullah Abdul Ghani Bazazi, emerged from mosques in Erbil but was banned by the KDP. In 2000, a faction known as the Tawhid Islamic Group carried out attacks including acid attacks against unveiled women, the KDP cracked down on this, forcing members to relocate to areas including Halabja and Hajji Umran. Hamas and Tawhid subsequently developed closer ties and united in July 2001 to form the Tawhid Islamic Front. On 19 February 2001, gunmen in Erbil assassinated Franso Hariri, the KDP majority leader in the Kurdistan Regional Government’s parliament and its highest-ranking Christian official. KDP officials traced the getaway car to PUK-controlled territory, while PUK forces traced it to Halabja and arrested a suspect who named five others. The attack was attributed to Tawhid and was reportedly carried out in retaliation for a 2000 incident near Hajji Umran in which KDP peshmerga opened fire on Tawhid militants infiltrating from Iran, killing 20. The IMK refused to hand the suspects over to the KDP in March 2001, prompting the KDP and PUK to close IMK offices, which reopened in April. Members of the Islamic Union claimed that the KDP arrested more than 2,000 Islamists. On 23 March, the Kurdistan Regional Government identified the assassins of Franso Hariri but no names were given. On 1 September 2001, the Tawhid Islamic Front and the Second Soran unit merged to form Jund al-Islam. The group declared jihad against secular and other Kurdish political parties and established strongholds around Biyara and Tawela near the Iranian border. Fighting soon broke out with the PUK. On 23 September, Jund al-Islam killed 37 PUK fighters at Kheli Hama on the Sulaymaniyah–Halabja road, 25 of them were reportedly killed after surrendering. By September 26, the PUK had reasserted its control over Halabja. Fighting continued into October in areas including Sharazur and Hawraman. In December 2001, following the clashes, Jund al-Islam was dissolved and renamed Ansar al-Islam, with Mullah Krekar becoming its leader. Its armed fighters remained in control of the villages of Biyara and Tawela and their vicinity near the Iranian border. Armed clashes between Ansar al-Islam and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) continued into November 2001, but in mid-December Ansar al-Islam announced a ceasefire. Peace talks between the two sides took place from December 2001 to March 2002, but were suspended in April following the attempted assassination of PUK Prime Minister Barham Salih. No major armed clashes followed, although relations between the two sides remained tense. On 4 May 2002, Ansar al-Islam leader Mullah Fateh Krekar issued an amnesty for PUK fighters. In areas under its control, however, Ansar al-Islam continued to carry out arbitrary arrests and detentions of suspected PUK sympathizers and others accused of violating the group’s strict Islamic code. Human Rights Watch reported that former detainees described beatings, burning of the skin with acid, and prolonged suspension from the limbs. By September 2002, at least forty families had fled Biyara and Tawela for nearby Halabja.
Escalation rose in December 2002 when two PUK outposts were overrun, the bodies of the soldiers mutilated, and videotapes of the heinous act distributed in Sulaymaniyah. In March 2003, the 3rd Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group, together with PUK Peshmerga forces, planned an operation to destroy Ansar al-Islam in northeastern Iraq near the Iranian border. On 21 March, more than 60 Tomahawk cruise missiles struck Ansar al-Islam targets. Operation Viking Hammer began on 28 March, when approximately 7,000 Peshmerga and U.S. Special Forces attacked Ansar al-Islam positions. The operation ended on 30 March. By then, all of Ansar al-Islam’s fighters had either been killed or had fled across the border into Iran. In November 2003, the surviving members of Ansar Al-Islam reunited and changed the name of the group to Ansar Al-Sunna in an attempt to reunite Iraqi-based extremists. Then, in December 2007, Ansar Al-Sunna returned to its name of Ansar Al-Islam, although some jihadists still occasionally use the name Ansar Al-Sunna. Ansar Islam/Ansar al-Sunna then operated primarily as part of the wider Iraqi insurgency, rather than returning to control territory in Iraqi Kurdistan. The U.S. State Department describes Ansar al-Islam/Ansar al-Sunna as carrying out attacks from 2003 onward against Iraqi government/security forces and coalition forces.
2006 Halabja unrest In March 2006, unrest broke out in Halabja during the 18th anniversary of the Halabja massacre. Some 2,000 angry protestors stormed the Halabja Martyrs monument. Kurdish authorities alleged that Islamic militants were responsible for the violence. They attacked and set fire to the Halabja memorial. Security forces opened fire as more demonstrators attempted to storm the site, resulting in the death of a protestor and injuries to several others. Kurda Ahmed, 17, was hit in the abdomen by a police rifle bullet, said eyewitnesses, who also alleged that a member of the security forces shot him again in the side, firing a pistol at close range. Ahmed died in Halabja hospital.
Sheikh Zana network
Before the Iraq War, Zana Nusrat Sheikh Abdul Karim al-Barzinji, known as Sheikh Zana, established a network in Erbil, according to confessions attributed to him. The network was linked first to Ansar al-Islam and later to Ansar al-Sunna, and the report said it assisted in bombings carried out in Erbil by the two groups from 2003 onward. On 1 February 2004, in Erbil, two suicide bombers carried out separate attacks, blowing themselves at the PUK and KDP headquarters, killing 101-105 officials and civilians, also injuring hundreds. The Kurdistan Regional Government accused the network of assassinating prominent Kurdish figures and members of the Kurdistan Democratic Party and said it was preparing further attacks. Islamist figures in the Kurdistan Region disputed describing the network as an Islamist group, saying that some of its members had initially been involved in Islamist activity but later departed from it. In 2005 a court found him and 10 other members guilty of dozens of killings, rapes, and kidnappings over a several-year period. He was executed by hanging in Erbil in September 2006. Zana and his group were the first executed by the Kurdish government since it was established in 1992.
2014 Northern Iraq offensive In June 2014, the Islamic State captured Mosul and expanded its control across northern Iraq. In early August, Islamic State forces captured several areas near the Kurdistan Region, including Sinjar, Makhmur, Gwer, the Mosul Dam and Zummar, bringing the group to within about 50 kilometers of Erbil. Peshmerga forces initially withdrew from several positions but regrouped and began counterattacking. On 10 August, Peshmerga forces retook Makhmur and Gwer.
2014 Kirkuk offensive On 17 June 2014, ISIL forces started an offensive with intent to capture Kirkuk. Soon after, the group attacked the village of Bashir 15 km south of Kirkuk city, where they clashed with local gunmen and police forces, assisted by the Peshmerga. After an hour of fighting the militants captured the village, leaving a senior Kurdish police brigadier wounded and six of his bodyguards killed. After taking control of the village ISIL massacred 52 Shi’a Turkmens. With Bashir captured, ISIL moved forward and temporarily captured two sub-districts of the Kirkuk city: one in the west of it (Multaqa sub-district) and one in the south (Taza sub-district). Later that day, Peshmerga forces, with support of U.S.-led Coalition airstrikes, recaptured both sub-districts. In December, ISIS claimed responsibility for a suicide car bomb attack on Kirkuk that killed at least 17 people and injured more than 20. The attack, according to ISIS, was meant to send a message to the Kurdish people and Peshmerga fighters.
Sinjar massacre