al-Hassan al-Basri battalions, al-Imam al-Hassan al-Basri Brigades, Hassan Al-Basri Brigade

Brigades of Imam al-Hassan al-Basri is an Iraqi group that gained notoriety for the killing of a journalist in February 2005, and also claimed responsibility for several small bombing attacks on police targets in the same year.  The group is based in Basra, and has reportedly pledged allegiance to Tanzim Qa'idat al-Jihad fi Bilad al-Rafidayn, the terrorist outfit led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. <P><br /><br />The Brigades of Imam al-Hassan al-Basri emerged in February 2005 after claiming responsibility for the murder of Abdel Hussein Khazaal, a correspondent for the US-financed al-Hurra TV station.  Khazaal was gunned down along with his son, age 4, outside their home in the Mazal neighbourhood of Basra.  The next day the Brigades posted a claim of responsibility on an Islamist website, saying that Khazaal was "a member of the Badr Brigade, the former militia of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (a Shia Islamist group) and an Iranian agent."  Al-Hurra correspondents and affiliated personnel have been targets of insurgents in Iraq in the past, as the station is considered to be a U.S. propaganda tool by many.  <P><br /><br />Since the killing of Khazaal, the group has claimed to have mounted several small attacks on police targets in Basra, and released a statement threatening Shia parties in the area. <P><br /><br />In September 2005, the group declared that they had joined forces with Tanzim Qa'idat al-Jihad fi Bilad al-Rafidayn, perhaps the most dangerous insurgent organization in Iraq.  While the Brigades have not elucidated any clear ideology or political goals, their threats against Shia targets, and allegiance to Zarqawi's organization, confirm that they are a Sunni-Islamist outfit, one of many operating in post-war Iraq.     <br />

It is not known whether the Brigades of Imam al-Hassan al-Basri has been fully assimilated into Zarqawi's group, or if they will continue attacks under the Imam al-Hassan al-Basri name.  In any case, this organization can be considered highly active and one of the main militant threats in the Basra area.