Sunday, November 13, 2005
Internal Violence Splits Iraqi Insurgents
A civil war has broken out among rival terrorist groups fighting U.S. forces in Iraq, with Sunni insurgents turning on groups run by al Qaeda's chief of operations in Iraq, Abu Musab al Zarqawi.
Last Sunday, a gun battled erupted between al Qaida and Sunni insurgent groups at a central intersection in Ramadi, the capital of the Sunni province of Anbar.
According to the Knight Ridder newswire: "As many as two dozen men fired automatic weapons and blasted away with shoulder-mounted rockets as al-Qaida in Iraq ambushed members of three local [insurgent] groups."
The violent clash left residents speculating that the strong support al-Qaida had in Anbar province "is starting to fracture, if not completely break," Knight Ridder said.
One key bone of contention - the decision by Sunni groups to participate in the vote on Iraq's constitution three weeks ago.
Another is the growing resentment by indigenous Iraqi insurgents angry over al Qaida's continuing terror campaign against Sunni civilians. Al Qaida in Iraq is comprised mainly of Islamic radicals from other countries. Zarqawi, for instance, is Jordanian.
An insurgent split in Ramadi, said Knight Ridder correspondent Mohammed al Dulaimy, "could blunt the influence of al-Qaida in Iraq, as the city in the so-called Sunni Triangle has been at the epicenter of fighting for the past 18 months and generally is seen as the heart of the group's power in the country."
A civil war has broken out among rival terrorist groups fighting U.S. forces in Iraq, with Sunni insurgents turning on groups run by al Qaeda's chief of operations in Iraq, Abu Musab al Zarqawi.
Last Sunday, a gun battled erupted between al Qaida and Sunni insurgent groups at a central intersection in Ramadi, the capital of the Sunni province of Anbar.
According to the Knight Ridder newswire: "As many as two dozen men fired automatic weapons and blasted away with shoulder-mounted rockets as al-Qaida in Iraq ambushed members of three local [insurgent] groups."
The violent clash left residents speculating that the strong support al-Qaida had in Anbar province "is starting to fracture, if not completely break," Knight Ridder said.
One key bone of contention - the decision by Sunni groups to participate in the vote on Iraq's constitution three weeks ago.
Another is the growing resentment by indigenous Iraqi insurgents angry over al Qaida's continuing terror campaign against Sunni civilians. Al Qaida in Iraq is comprised mainly of Islamic radicals from other countries. Zarqawi, for instance, is Jordanian.
An insurgent split in Ramadi, said Knight Ridder correspondent Mohammed al Dulaimy, "could blunt the influence of al-Qaida in Iraq, as the city in the so-called Sunni Triangle has been at the epicenter of fighting for the past 18 months and generally is seen as the heart of the group's power in the country."
