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It has been suggested that this article be merged with Al-Qaeda in Iraq and Talk:Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad#Merger proposal. (Discuss) Proposed since July 2008.

Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad (Group of Monotheism and Jihad)
Jama'at al-Tawhid wal Jihad members with the group's banner in the background, shortly before beheading the civilian hostage Jack Hensley (below) on September 21, 2004
Leaders	Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
Dates of operation	Early 2003 to late 2004
Headquarters	Fallujah
Active regions	Iraq, limited in Jordan
Opponents	Multinational force in Iraq, Iraq (Iraqi security forces, Kurdish and Shia militias), Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, United Nations
Battles and wars	Iraqi insurgency

Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad (Template:Lang-ar, Group of Monotheism and Jihad) was an Islamist insurgent group led by the Jordanian national Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Foreign fighters were widely thought to play a key role in the decentralized network, although some analysts say it may have also had a considerable Iraqi membership. Following Zarqawi's October 17, 2004 pledge of allegiance to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, the group gradually became popularly known as al-Qaeda in Iraq (official name Tanzim Qaidat al-Jihad fi Bilad al-Rafidayn).

Name

This group's name is usually abbreviated as JTJ or most often shortened to Tawhid and Jihad, Tawhid wal-Jihad and sometimes Tawhid al-Jihad (or just Al Tawhid or Tawhid).

Origins

Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad was started by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, other foreigners, and local, mostly Kurdish Islamist sympathizers. Zarqawi was a Jordanian who had traveled to Afghanistan to fight in the Soviet-Afghan War, but had arrived after the departure of the Soviet troops; instead he busied himself with reporting on the fighting of others. After a trip home, he eventually returned to Afghanistan, running an Islamic militant training camp near Herat in Afghanistan. Zarqawi started the network originally with a focus on overthrowing the Jordanian kingdom, which he considered to be un-Islamic in the fundamentalist sense. Eventually, Zarqawi developed a large number of contacts and affiliates in several countries. His network may have been involved in the late 1999 plot to bomb the Millennium celebrations in the U.S. and Jordan.

Following the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, it is believed that Zarqawi moved westward into Iraq, where he may have received medical treatment in Baghdad for an injured leg. It is believed that he developed extensive ties in Iraq with Ansar al-Islam ("Partisans of Islam"), a Kurdish Islamist militant group that was based in the extreme northeast of the country. Ansar had alleged ties to Iraqi Intelligence; Saddam Hussein's motivation would have been to use Ansar as a surrogate force to repress the secular Kurds who wanted a "free Kurdistan". (In January 2003 Ansar's founder, Mullah Krekar, has staunchly denied any such contacts with Saddam's regime.) Zarqawi's operatives have been responsible for the assassination of the U.S. diplomat Laurence Foley in Jordan in 2002.

Following the 2003 U.S-led invasion of Iraq, JTJ was developed as a militant network composed of foreign fighters and remnants of Ansar al-Islam to resist the coalition occupation forces and their Iraqi allies. In May 2004 JTJ joined forces with another Islamist organisation, the Salafiah al-Mujahidiah. Many of foreign fighters were not the group members, but once in Iraq they became dependent on Zarqawi's local contacts.

Goals

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The stated goals of JTJ were to force a withdrawal of U.S-led forces from Iraq, topple the Iraqi interim government and assassinate collaborators with the "occupation," marginalize the Shiite Muslim population and defeat its militias, and to subsequently establish a pure Islamic state. Presumably, if and when those goals are achieved, the global Jihad would continue to establish a pan-Islamic state and remove Western influence from the Muslim world.

Tactics

JTJ differed from other Iraqi insurgent groups considerably in its tactics. Rather than just using conventional weapons and guerrilla tactics, it has relied heavily on suicide bombings, mostly with vehicles, targeting a wide variety of groups but most especially Iraqi Security Forces and those facilitating the occupation. U.S and coalition forces, the United Nations (UN), foreign civilians, humanitarian organizations, Iraqi Shia and Kurdish political and religious figures, Iraqi police and security forces, and Iraqi interim officials have also been targeted. The group have assassinated several leading Iraqi politicians of the early post-Saddam era.

Zarqawi's militants have been known to use a wide variety of other tactics, however, including targeted assassinations and kidnappings, the planting of improvised explosive devices, mortar attacks, and beginning in a late June 2004 offensive urban guerilla-style attacks using rocket-propelled grenades and small arms. TWJ was also known for committing war crimes such as the brutal beheadings of foreign and Iraqi civilian hostages, which were then distributed on the Internet in video footage attributed to the group.

JTJ cites various texts from the Qur'an and the Sunnah (traditions) of Muhammad that they perceive to support their tactics. They refer to the tradition of the prophet Muhammad where he said to the people of Mecca when conquering them, "By the one in whose hand the soul of Muhammad is in, I came to you with slaughter" narrated in the books of Hadith (traditions). They also quote Muhammad saying, "Whoever slaughters a non-Muslim (at war with Islam, i.e. those perceived to be 'enemy occupiers') sincerely for the sake of Allah, Allah will make hellfire prohibited upon him." as well as many verses of the Qur'an calling Muslims to fight invading non-Muslims and even behead them, such where Allah says in the Qur'an, "when you meet the non-Muslim (enemies in battle) strike their necks." The group's spiritual advisor was Abu Anas al-Shami.

Activities

Attacks

TWJ took responsibility or was blamed for some of the biggest early insurgent attacks, including:

• August 7 2003: Jordanian embassy bombing in Baghdad which killed 17 and injured at least 40.
• August 19 2003: Canal Hotel bombing that killed Sérgio Vieira de Mello and 22 others at the UN headquarters in Baghdad. More than 100 were injured.
• August 29 2003: Imam Ali Mosque bombing in Najaf that killed Ayatollah Sayed Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim and more than 85 others. More than 500 were injured.
• November 12, 2003: The truck bombing in Nasiriyah which killed 17 Italian paramilitary policemen and 10 civilians and injured at least 100.
• March 2 2004: Series of bombings in Baghdad and Karbala that killed some 178 people and wounded at least 500 during the Day of Ashura.
• April 19 2004: Failed plot to explode chemical bombs in Amman, Jordan, said to be financed by Zarqawi's network.
• April 24 2004: In a statement published by on the Muntada al-Ansar Islamist web site, Zarqawi took responsibility for suicide boat bombings of the oil pumping stations in the Persian Gulf.
• May 18 2004: Car bomb assassination of Iraqi Governing Council president Ezzedine Salim in Baghdad.
• June 18 2004: The suicide car bombing in Baghdad that killed 35 civilians, and wounded 145.
• September 14 2004: Car bomb killed 47 and injured nearly 100 more civilians and police recruits on Haifa Street in Baghdad.

TWJ claimed credit for a number of attacks targeting Coalition and Iraqi forces, including the October 2004 massacre of 49 unarmed Iraqi National Guard recruits, and humanitarian aid agency targets such as the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The group conducted numerous attacks against U.S. military personnel and Iraqi infrastructure throughout 2004, including suicide attacks inside the Green Zone perimeter in Baghdad.

Foreign hostages

• Nick Berg, American civilian beheaded on May 7 2004
• Murat Yuce, Turkish civilian shot dead on August 2 2004
• Kim Sun-il, South Korean civilian executed on June 22 2004
• Georgi Lazov and Ivaylo Kepov, Bulgarian civilians beheaded on July 8 2004.
• Durmus Kumdereli, Turkish civilian beheaded on September 13 2004.
• Eugene Armstrong, American civilian beheaded on September 20 2004
• Jack Hensley, American civilian beheaded on September 21 2004
• Kenneth Bigley, British civilian beheaded on October 7 2004

Legacy

Since October 2004 JTJ became known as al-Qaeda in Iraq.

The group may also been linked with the little-known group called "Tawhid and Jihad in Syria", and may have influenced the extremist Palestinian group called "Tawhid and Jihad Brigades" (better known as Army of Islam) in Gaza.

See also

• Abu Ayyub al-Masri
• Abu Omar al-Kurdi
• Terrorism in Iraq

References

1. Peter Grier, Faye Bowers (May 14 2004). "Iraq's bin Laden? Zarqawi's rise". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 2007-07-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
2. ^ "Guide: Armed groups in Iraq". BBC. August 15 2006. Retrieved 2007-07-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
3. "Zarqawi pledges allegiance to Osama". Dawn. October 18 2004. Retrieved 2007-07-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
4. "Al-Zarqawi group vows allegiance to bin Laden". MSNBC. October 18 2004. Retrieved 2007-07-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
5. Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, translated by Jeffrey Pool (October 18 2004). "Zarqawi's pledge of allegiance to al-Qaeda". Jamestown Foundation. Retrieved July 13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
6. Gordon Corera (December 16 2004). "Unraveling Zarqawi's al-Qaeda connection". Jamestown Foundation. Retrieved July 13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
7. "The Enemy of My Enemy: The odd link between Ansar al-Islam, Iraq and Iran" (PDF). The Canadian Institute of Strategic Studies. Retrieved July 13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
8. Pam O'Toole (January 31 2003). "Mullah denies Iraq al-Qaeda link". BBC. Retrieved 2007-07-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
9. Richard Boucher (October 15, 2004). "Foreign Terrorist Organization: Designation of Jama'at al-Tawhid wa'al-Jihad and Aliases". United States Department of State. Retrieved July 13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
10. "Profile: Tawhid and Jihad group". BBC. October 8, 2004. Retrieved 2007-07-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
11. ^ Gary Gambill (December 16 2004). "Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi: A biographical sketch". Jamestown Foundation. Retrieved July 13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
12. Mohamad Bazzi (February 7, 2005). "Zarqawi kin reportedly bombed shrine in Iraq". Newsday. Retrieved 2007-07-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
13. Emily Hunt (November 15, 2005). "Zarqawi's 'Total War' on Iraqi Shiites Exposes a Divide among Sunni Jihadists". Retrieved July 13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
14. "Who Is Abu Zarqawi?". CBS News. May 18 2004. Retrieved 2007-07-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
15. ^ "Fast facts about Abu Musab al-Zarqawi". Fox News. June 8, 2006. Retrieved 2007-07-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
16. "Car bomb kills 35 in Baghdad". CNN. June 17 2004. Retrieved 2007-07-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
17. Peter Cave (September 14 2004). "Car bomb kills dozens in Baghdad". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 2007-07-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
18. "Iraq: 2004 overview". The Knowledge Base. Retrieved July 13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
19. "Country Reports on Terrorism". United States Department of State. April 28, 2006. Retrieved July 13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
20. "Turkish hostage shot to death in Iraq". China Daily. August 3 2004. Retrieved 2007-07-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
21. "Al-Qaida inspired militant group calls on Syrians to kill country's president". International Herald Tribune. May 28 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
22. "PALESTINE: Reporter is dead, claims terror group". Asia Media. April 17, 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

External links

• Brutal kidnappers gaining in popularity The Guardian on September 21 2004
• Profile: Tawhid and Jihad group BBC News on October 8 2004
• Purported Zarqawi letter Coalition Provisional Authority

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