March 2007 saw the continuation of the violent clashes between the Sunni Iraqi jihad groups, and Al-Qaeda and the Al-Qaeda-founded Islamic State of Iraq (ISI). As part of its policy of killing Iraqi mujahideen who refuse to join the ISI, Al-Qaeda has assassinated two prominent Sunni Iraqis – a senior jihad commander and an associate of Iraq's deputy prime minister.
The following are the details:
Al-Qaeda Assassinates Senior Commander of the Iraqi "Kataib Thawrat Al-Ishrin" Jihad Group
On March 27, 2007, Sheikh Hareth Zaher Al-Dhari, the son of the head of the Al-Zouba' tribe, was ambushed and killed near his home in the Abu Ghraib district. Al-Dhari was a top commander of Faylaq Al-Jihad Al-Islami, a group which recently split off from the jihad organization Kataib Thawrat Al-Ishrin.[1]
On the day of the assassination, Faylaq Al-Jihad and the Al-Zouba' tribe posted factual announcements that reported the murder without naming the party responsible. The Faylaq Al-Jihad announcement stated that the murderers had laid a "treacherous ambush" for Al-Dhari, while the Al-Zouba' announcement characterized the perpetrators as "a misguided group whose hatred has blinded it to the path of truth." The latter announcement added that "this crime will not keep the Al-Zouba' tribe from continuing to [fulfill] its duty of jihad [against] the occupier and his supporters, and will not cause it to focus on marginal issues that distract it from its sacred duty."[2]
Though no group claimed responsibility for the assassination, sheikhs of the Al-Zouba' tribe,...
