The 2005 Erbil bombing was a

suicide attack A suicide attack (also known by a wide variety of other names, see below) is a deliberate attack in which the perpetrators knowingly sacrifice their own lives as part of the attack. These attacks are a form of murder–suicide that is ofte ...

on the offices of

Kurd Kurds (), or the Kurdish people, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group from West Asia. They are indigenous to Kurdistan, which is a geographic region spanning southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northeastern Syri ...

ish political parties in

Erbil Erbil (, ; , ), also called Hawler (, ), is the capital and most populated city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The city is the capital of the Erbil Governorate. Human settlement at Erbil may be dated back to the 5th millennium BC. At the h ...

Kurdistan Region Kurdistan Region (KRI) is a semi-autonomous Federal regions of Iraq, federal region of the Iraq, Republic of Iraq. It comprises four Kurds, Kurdish-majority governorates of Arabs, Arab-majority Iraq: Erbil Governorate, Sulaymaniyah Governorate ...

, on May 4, 2005. The attacker detonated explosives strapped to his body as people lined up outside a police recruiting center in Erbil.

Ansar al-Sunna Jamaat Ansar al-Sunnah (), also known as Jaish Ansar al-Sunna ('Army of the Helpers of Sunnah'), Ali ibn Abi Talib Battalion or simply as Ansar al-Sunnah was an Iraqi Sunni insurgent group that fought against United States troops and their loca ...

claimed responsibility. This attack is an example of

religious terrorism Religious terrorism (or, religious extremism) is a type of religious violence where terrorism is used as a strategy to achieve certain religious goals or which are influenced by religious beliefs and/or identity. In the modern age, after the d ...

, groups who commit terrorist acts because of religion believe that their deity or deities are on their side and that their violence is divinely inspired and approved. This attack is also an example of Strategic terrorism. Which is a form of terrorism where the terrorist plans to inflict mass casualties. The goals of Strategic terrorism are normally not local objectives but global objectives or regional objectives. Ansar al-Sunna's goal is to transform the country of Iraq into an Islamic state so their goals are regional.

Ansar al-Sunna

Ansar al-Sunna stands for Supporters of Islam. "They are an militant Islamic Kurdish separatist movement seeking to transform Iraq into an Islamic state". This group has a Salafist worldview, which means that they insist on a puritanical form of Islam and they seek to emulate the practices of

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

. This movement was founded in 2001 by

Mullah Krekar Najmadin Faraj Ahmad (, July 7, 1956), better known as Mullah Krekar (), is a Kurdish Sunni Islamic scholar. He was a commander for the Peshmerga unit belonging to the Kurdistan Islamic Movement during the 1991 Iraqi uprisings. Later, he founded ...

and they got financial and logistical help from

al-Qaeda , image = Flag of Jihad.svg , caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions , founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden , leaders = {{Plainlist, * Osama bin Lad ...

and

Osama Bin laden Osama bin Laden (10 March 19572 May 2011) was a militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, Bin Laden participated in the Afghan ''mujahideen'' against the Soviet Union, and support ...

. Some of the members of this organization transport money from Germany to northern Iraq to help finance the group. "This group targets secular Iraqi

Kurds Kurds (), or the Kurdish people, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group from West Asia. They are indigenous to Kurdistan, which is a geographic region spanning southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northeastern Syri ...

-particularly members of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK)". Ansar was named a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) by the U.S. Department of State on March 22, 2004. They are considered an active terrorist group in northern and central Iraq today. Ansar al-Islam operates primarily in northern and central Iraq and claims the second largest number of

Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...

jihadist attacks in Iraq after Al-Qaeda. This organization is also known to behead their captives. The goal of Ansar-al Sunna is to have an Islamic country where its people are strong. There are a maximum of two thousand "hard fighters" in Ansar-al-Sunna.

The bombing

In the bombing on May 4, 2005, the suicide bomber dressed up as a job seeker and blew himself up outside a police recruiting center in the Kurdish provincial capital, killing at least 60 Kurds, most of them prospective policemen, and wounding 150 others. This attack was intended as retribution for the involvement of Kurdish troops fighting insurgents alongside American forces. This bombing was the biggest act of terrorism in Iraq since early March 2005. Because the bomber could not get into the police recruiting center he detonated himself by the gate where young men gathered, killing 46, including the policeman standing outside of the recruiting center. Later it was found that a total of 60 people were found dead.

Reasons for the conflict between Kurds and Ansar-al Sunna

The Kurdish Islamic Conflict began in 2001. In 2003, the conflict merged with the larger 2003 invasion of Iraq, which led to the defeat of Ansar al-Islam. After the invasion, Ansar al-Islam continued a low-level terrorist revolt against the Kurdish Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. Ansar al-Islam and its allied groups seized control of the area around Halabja from the PUK in late 2001 and that is why there is military conflict between them. Fighting continued throughout 2002. Ansar al-Sunna has tortured prisoners and executed PUK officials.

Reason for the conflict between Baghdad and Erbil

Conflict has also arisen with the Kurds because they have aimed to retake

Kirkuk Kirkuk (; ; ; ) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of the Kirkuk Governorate. The city is home to a diverse population of Kurds, Iraqi Turkmen, Iraqi Turkmens and Arabs. Kirkuk sits on the ruins of the original Kirkuk Cit ...

and that has arisen some problems with the Arabs in Kirkuk. The Arabs have lived there for more than 30 years and they're reluctant to leave. One of the largest oilfields in the area lies underneath Kirkuk and that complicates the dispute. The conflict between the

and Baghdad is mostly due to land. It has been difficult to resolve the conflict between Baghdad and Erbil because it dates back decades and has a lot to do with natural resources. It seems that the

is reluctant to renounce their claim of the land and this conflict might take some 50 to 100 years to resolve.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Erbil 2005 murders in Iraq May 2005 in Iraq Mass murder in 2005 Al-Qaeda activities in Iraq Suicide bombings in Iraq Terrorist incidents in Iraq in 2005 2005 in Iraqi Kurdistan May 2005 crimes in Asia Military history of Erbil Building bombings in Kurdistan Region (Iraq) Bombings in the Iraqi insurgency (2003–2011) Erbil Governorate in the Iraq War Attacks on police stations in 2005 Persecution of Kurds in Iraq Attacks on police stations in Iraq 2005 building bombings Suicide bombings in 2005 Islamic terrorism in Iraq Islamic terrorist incidents in 2005 Anti-Kurdish sentiment Attacks on office buildings in Iraq

Ansar al-Sunna

The bombing

Reasons for the conflict between Kurds and Ansar-al Sunna

Reason for the conflict between Baghdad and Erbil

See also

References