Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) has released part 4 of the series “Knights of Martyrdom”. I previously wrote a post providing an analysis of part 3, which appeared back in July, highlighting indications that the group's al-Furqan Media Group was on the decline. Part 4 comes as Iraqi officials claim that the country is now free of the foreign fighters that often heed AQI's call.
A segment of this latest episode, which appeared on jihadist forums yesterday, is already available on YouTube. In it's entirety, the video highlights footage of VBIED attacks underaken by 3 suicide bombers. It also reports on the damage inflicted in these attacks, and features statements made by the martyrs before embarking on their missions.
The attacks featured are as follows:
– One allegedly made against an Iraqi National Guard building in Diyala. In addition to explosives, the vehicle was allegedly loaded with 36,000 liters of poison gas. A number of attacks invovling chlorine gas took place in Iraq in 2007, but I haven't seen anything yet confirming the info provided by al-Furqan regarding this attack.
– Another against a bridge (claimed to be important to US forces) in the Diyala province city of Ba’qouba, which al-Furqan claims destroyed the bridge and killed 10 Georgian troops. Note, such an attack was reported by Reuters back in May of 2008, but the death toll was reported at 2.
– The third was allegedly made against the directorate of counterterrorism in Baghdad, in which al-Furqan claims AQI destroyed 20 hummers and killed 20 police officers.
While the video also features your staple sound-bites made by Bin Laden, Zarqawi, and Baghdadi, it more interestingly goes out of its way to portray the life of these martyrs as one filled with brotherly love and friendship. For example, the last individual featured is shown washing his pickup truck before embarking on his mission, then play-fighting with his comrade under the caption, “snapshots depicting the brotherly atmosphere in which Abu Siyaf and his brother Abi ‘Amar al-Jazairi lived, God have mercy upon them” (pictured above). Thus, al-Furqan yet again portrays the life of ‘martyrdom’ as one to be desired.
But can AQI rely solely upon its media capability to attract foreign fighters back to Iraq?
