January 17, 2006: The rift appears to be widening between what might be termed âAl Qaeda Center,â represented by by Osama Bin Ladenâs right hand man Ayman al-Zawahri, and âAl Qaeda-in-Iraqâ (AQII) leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The bombings earlier this month of Shia religious sites in Karbala which caused some 50 deaths and scores of injuries, resulted in an enormous amount of bad publicity for Al Qaeda throughout the Moslem world. Reportedly, as a result of the attacks, al-Zawahri admonished al-Zarqawi over attacks against civilian targets and Shia religious sites. Al-Zarqawiâs reaction was to post on an âofficialâ AQII website a statement denying responsibility for the attacks, though reaffirming that Shia were heretical swine.
Despite al-Zawahriâs criticism, it is unlikely that al-Zarqawi will back off attack on civilian targets, which are much easier to carry out than attacks on Iraqi or Coalition troops. As a result of AQIIâs policy of targeting civilians, as well as a more recently program of assassination against secularist Iraqi resistance groups, a âwar within the warâ appears to have developed in some areas of Iraq. There is strong evidence that pitched battles have occurred in several regions between AQIIâs âforeignâ fighters and local insurgents loyal to tribal or Baathist leaders. In Al Anbar province the principal secular resistance leader, Muhammed Mahoud Latif, appears to be among one of the insurgent leaders prominent in quasi-covert âpeaceâ talks with the Iraqi government. |