Iraqi insurgents blog up their bombings

Raw Story
Dec. 08, 2006

A purported insurgent group in Iraq appears to have launched a weblog with regular updates of its attacks on Shi'ite and coalition forces in the country, RAW STORY has learned.

A post at the blog of journalist Eric Umansky pointed to a website for the "Islamic Army in Iraq." One terrorism database describes the group as "a significant Iraqi terrorist entity," which "has initiated a brutally violent campaign against foreigners within Iraq, specifically anyone believed to be cooperating with the U.S.-led coalition." Most of the IAI website is in Arabic.

However, a small section of the website is translated into English, and even includes an XML/RSS feed in order to supply readers with regular updates of the insurgents' activities in Iraq. A November 5th update claims the group carried out one particular attack: "Shelling Mahdy army and Badr corps crowds with 30 mortar rounds 82mm in Balad (dated 5/11)." Another item from the November 3rd update claims the "Assassination of a translator working for US troops in Baghdad (dated 29/10)." It is unclear if reports of these attacks line up with terrorist attacks actually occurring during recent months.

A "WHOIS" search of the domain name for the website claims that it is registered to one "Aaron Wilson" of Van Nuys, CA, and provides a phone number and e-mail address for the registrant of the website. However, one watcher of this website and others suggested in October that the name is fake, although the e-mail address associated with the registration had been used for other websites as well.

The English language content of the Islamic Army of Iraq website can be accessed at this link.