Kurd Militants Linked to al-Qaida

By Brian Murphy

Oct 22, 2002

SULAYMANIYAH, (Southern Kurdistan) (AP) An Islamic militant faction in the U.S.-protected Kurdish safe haven was created by Osama bin Laden from terrorist cells shifted from Afghanistan just before the Sept. 11 attacks, a top Iraqi Kurdish leader claimed Tuesday.

Local intelligence sources also support U.S. allegations that the Ansar al-Islam group has conducted chemical weapons tests, said Barham Salih, prime minister of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, or PUK.

The PUK, the second largest of the pro-Western Iraqi Kurdish political groups, controls eastern parts of the semiautonomous region where Ansar al-Islam operates.

''We have very solid information corroborating (an al-Qaida link) from our own sources,'' said Salih, who was the target of an assassination attempt in April by suspected Ansar al-Islam gunmen.

He declined to give further details on the evidence gathered. But he said clues suggest bin Laden had a direct role in creating an al-Qaida foothold in northern Iraq.

According to Iraqi Kurdish evidence, the core of Ansar al-Islam, or Supporters of Islam, was created 10 days before the Sept. 11 attacks as part of bin Laden's plans to disperse his terrorist network before an expected U.S. strike on al-Qaida's command in Afghanistan, Salih said.

''This was part of a deliberate process preparing for the Sept. 11 attack to set up alternative bases for al-Qaida away from Afghanistan,'' Salih told The Associated Press. ''They were anticipating apparently a reaction from the Americans and others. Setting up a base here was part of the contingency planning.''

Salih added there is ''clear evidence'' that Ansar al-Islam conducted limited tests of chemical weapons on farm animals.

U.S. authorities in August said they did not launch attacks against Ansar al-Islam because the tests were crude and not considered a wider threat. American and British warplanes have protected the Iraqi Kurdish region for about a decade.

''It's a serious security concern for us,'' said Salih. ''We're talking about a small number of people, hardened terrorists who are willing to die for what they consider their cause ... They want to impose their will upon people and their values upon people by terrorism, by violence, by sabotage,by assassinations.''

Ansar al-Islam has been driven back to several villages along the Iranian border about 300 kilometers (187 miles) northeast of Baghdad. It is estimated to have just several hundred fighters, including Arabs and Iraqi Kurds, who have waged sporadic clashes with Patriotic Union forces.

An AP reporter was barred by Ansar al-Islam militiamen from entering its stronghold in the village of Biyara last week. The outpost had a full array of weapons, including automatic rifles and mortars.

The fighters, who declined to give their full names, said supplies come over the border from supporters in Iran. The Iranian government has strongly denied any links to Ansar al-Islam.

Salih would not comment on the level of Iranian assistance to choke off the group's lifeline. But he said both sides ''share a common interest for security.''

About 30 alleged Ansar al-Islam followers are jailed in the Patriotic Union's main city of Sulaymaniyah. One suspect was found with a jacket packed with explosives for a possible suicide blast, officials said.

Last month, the group's leader, Mullah Najm al-Din Faraj Ahmad, was arrested in the Netherlands en route from Iran to Norway.

Ansar al-Islam has been denounced by moderate Islamic groups in the Iraqi Kurdish region, where political leaders are seeking to put aside differences before a possible U.S. military strike against Saddam Hussein.

''They are very much on the margins of political life here. But they are a security threat,'' Salih said. ''It drains our resources and diverts our resources from urgently needed issues such as rehabilitation of our economy and ... promoting our civil society.''