Ansar al Islam names new leader

The al Qaeda-linked Ansar al Islam released a statement announcing the name of its new leader. The Iraqi terror group also announced that it would fly a new flag.
In a statement released on jihadist websites yesterday, Ansar al Islam named Abu Hashim Muhammad bin Abdul Rahman al Ibrahim as its leader. The brief statemen



By Thomas Joscelyn & Bill Roggio - January 5, 2012 - LWJ

Ansar al Islam's new flag. Image from the SITE Intelligence Group

The al Qaeda-linked Ansar al Islam released a statement announcing the name of its new leader. The Iraqi terror group also announced that it would fly a new flag.

In a statement released on jihadist websites yesterday, Ansar al Islam named Abu Hashim Muhammad bin Abdul Rahman al Ibrahim as its leader. The brief statement, which was translated by the SITE Intelligence Group, is dated Dec. 15, 2011 and was signed by the "Command of Ansar al Islam."

"Sheikh Abu Hashim Muhammad bin Abdul Rahman al Ibrahim was instituted as the general emir [leader] of Ansar al-Islam, and the group gave allegiance to him.... The giving of allegiance is a commitment for everyone who belongs to the group, and there is no quitting of it after signing it," according to the statement.

Ibrahim replaces Abu Abdullah al Shafi, the former leader of Ansar al Islam, who was detained along with seven "criminal associates" during raids in the Baghdad neighborhoods of Mansour and Adhamiyah on May 3, 2010. Shafi was captured less than one month after US and Iraqi forces killed Abu Ayyub al Masri, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, and Abu Omar al Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, al Qaeda's political front, during a raid near Tikrit.

In addition to naming Ibrahim as the leader of Ansar al Islam, the terror group announced the creation of a new flag for the central command and the "Military and Jihad Department."

"The group's banner, 'al Sahab' [the clouds], which is black with a white section in the middle, has written on it the words of the testimony, 'There is No God but Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah,' in black, cursive script, and is fastened to a spear."

The Military and Jihad Department's banner is white and is called "al Jabal" [the mountain]. It also contains the same texts as the command's flag.


Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2012/01/ansar_al_islam_names.php#ixzz1idRXfl6J

Posted in: Iraq