al-Qaeda Organization in the Land of the Two Rivers -- Umbrella Organization

Fully incorporated within al-Qaeda Organization in the Land of the Two Rivers

Al-Bara bin Malek Brigades is a specialized cell of suicide bombers within Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al-Qaeda Organization in the Land of the Two Rivers.  The Brigades have launched numerous suicide operations against U.S. and Iraqi government targets and were reportedly responsible for the devastating November 2005 hotel bombings in Jordan that killed almost 60 people. <P><br /><br />The formation of the group was announced in June 2005 in a posting on a Jihadist website by a man identifying himself as Abu Doujana al-Ansari, the leader of the Al-Bara bin Malek Brigades.  The statement read: "We gladly inform our sheik Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi of the formation of al-Bara bin Malek Brigade."  However, the group first emerged a month earlier when it claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of six Jordanians who were working in Iraq.  The group released a video showing the abductees, and warned Jordanian companies not to cooperate with the United States.  The fate of the hostages is as yet unknown.  <P><br /><br />Although al-Zarqawi most likely did not have a personal hand in forming the Brigades, the group can be considered a fully-incorporated outfit within al-Qaeda Organization in the Land of the Two Rivers.  In general, any suicide mission claimed by al-Zarqawi could be said to have been carried out by the Brigades.  The group's name comes from a famous Muslim hero al-Bara bin Malek, who, according to legend, sacrificed himself in battle by being flung over a castle's ramparts to engage the enemy.  Many Islamist terrorist groups use this story as a justification for suicide terrorism.  Although the Brigades are no doubt a vicious Jihadist group like other cells within the al-Zarqawi network, their full-fledged embrace of suicide tactics suggests that the group is superlative in their extremism. <P><br />