Al Qaeda in Iraq's political front, the Islamic State of Iraq,
claimed credit for the series of recent attacks in the western cities of
Haditha and Barwana in Anbar province that killed 27 Iraqi policemen.
AQI called the attacks the "Invasion of Commander Jarrah al Shami,"
according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which translated the
statement.
AQI said that "ninety mujahideen, who had pledged for death and many
of whom were enrobed with explosive belts, launched in four convoys
towards the city of Haditha, under the leadership of the Mujahid Sheikh
the Anbar governor." The target of course was the Shia, now a frequent
target of AQI's ire:
By the grace of Allah, and after relying on Him and
fulfilling what pleases Him of the Shariah and universal factors of
victory, a group of the descendents of the noble companions and men of
the Islamic State launched in a new blessed attack, targeting one of the
dear cities of Anbar province, a city in which the heads of infidelity
had nested and the apostate profligates had taken as a base to strike
the mujahideen, attack Shariah, and empower the Safavid Rafidah
[Shi'ites].
The operation was named after Jarrah al Shami, a Syrian who served on
the Islamic State of Iraq's shura, or executive council, according to
Iraq scholar Nibras Kazimi. Abu Omar al Baghdadi, the former leader of
the ISI, described al Shami as one of the terror group's "heroes." So it
appears that al Baghdadi's heroes include at least one non-Iraqi, and
possibly two.
From Kazimi's Talisman's Gate:
The final segment of the speech deals with the second
anniversary of the founding of the Islamic State of Iraq, and one oddity
about it is al-Baghdadi's choice of who the top heroes of the Islamic
State of Iraq are supposed to be: Abul-Basha'ir al-Juburi (a jihadist
leader by the pseudonym of "Abul-Basha'ir" was killed during November
2007, but he was identified as a Syrian national. The Juburi tribal
handle makes it more plausible that this particular Abul-Basha'ir is an
Iraqi, even though there are some Juburis in Syria), Abu Bakr al-'Afri
(a certain Abu Muhammad al-'Afri was killed during September 2007 near
Mosul; don't know if this is the same person, the last name suggests an
African background), and Muharib al-Juburi. Al-Baghdadi adds that
al-'Afri, al-Shami and al-Juburi were members of the shura
[consultative] council of the Islamic State of Iraq, while Abul-Basha'ir
is identified as the Chief of Staff of the Army of the State of Islam.
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