Jaish Ansar al-Sunna

Jaish Ansar al-Sunna, or Army of the Protectors of the Sunna (faith), is group of Islamist militants fighting U.S-led occupation forces. The group is based in northern and central Iraq, and includes Iraqi Kurdish and Sunni religious radicals as well as many foreign fighters. The group maintains close ties with the remnants of Ansar al-Islam, a Kurdish Islamist organization formerly based in the mountains near Halabja in northeastern Iraq before the U.S-led invasion. U.S officials believe that the group was founded in September of 2003 as an umbrella organization for Islamist guerillas, with former members of Ansar al-Islam at its core. It seeks to expel U.S-led occupation forces from Iraq and to subsequently establish an Islamic state. The group's leader has been identified as a man named Abu Abdullah al-Hassan bin Mahmoud, whose background is unclear.

Jaish Ansar al-Sunna has taken credit for several suicide bombings in Iraq, including the devestating attacks on the offices of two Kurdish political parties in Irbil on February 1, 2004, that killed at least 101 people. The strikes marked the single bloodiest attack launched by insurgents since the start of the war. It has produced tapes and CD's that mark the "last testaments" of six bombers from previous attacks, three of whom appear foreign. It's name also appeared with eleven other insurgent groups on leaflets passed out in the Sunni Triangle cities of Ramadi and Fallujah from January 31-February 1, 2003. The leaflets detail the insurgency's plan for seizing Iraqi cities following the departure of coalition forces.