Kurdish mujahideen

{{Infobox war faction

| name = Kurdish mujahideen

| war =

| caption = Ali Bapir (far left) with a group of fighters

| image = 250px

| ideology = *Kurdish nationalism

| leaders = *Osman Abdulaziz

| size = over 10,000

| headquarters =

| area = Kurdistan

| opponents = {{flag|Iraq}}
{{flag|United States}}
{{flag|Ba'athist Iraq}}
{{flagicon image|Flag_of_the_Ba%27ath_Party.svg}} Ba'ath loyalists
{{flagicon image|Flag of the People's Mujahedin of Iran.svg}} MEK
{{flagicon image|Flag of the KDP.svg}} KDP (after 1991)
{{flagicon image|Flag of PUK.png}} PUK (after 1991)

| battles = *Iran-Iraq War

| motives = To make an independent Kurdish state under Islamic law

| allies = {{flagicon image|Flag of the KDP.svg}} KDP (against Iraq)
{{flagicon image|Flag of PUK.png}} PUK (against Iraq)

{{flagicon image|Kurdish Hezbollah flag.svg}} Kurdish Hezbollah

}}

The Kurdish mujahideen ({{langx|ku|Mucahidîn Kurd}}) is a term used for Kurdish Islamists who fought the Ba'athist Iraqi government.

History

During the Iran–Iraq War, Sheikh Osman Abdulaziz, leader of the IMK, called for an independent Kurdish nation, as well as declaring a holy war against Iraq and against Ba'athism, which led independent Kurdish Islamists, Kurdish Islamist organizations, and even Peshmerga soldiers who had Islamist leanings, to form a type of united front. Many Kurdish Islamists set up training camps in the mountains of Kurdistan, recruited people, and began rebelling against Iraq.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ifri.org/en/publications/notes-de-lifri/three-generations-jihadism-iraqi-kurdistan|title=Three Generations of Jihadism in Iraqi Kurdistan|website=www.ifri.org}}{{cite book |title=The SAGE Encyclopedia of Terrorism, Second Edition |last=Martin |first=Gus |date=15 June 2011 |page=48 |publisher=SAGE |isbn=9781412980166 }}

The IMK also sent delegations of Kurds to visit Osama bin Laden, in which they told him about the atrocities that Saddam Hussein was committing in Iraqi Kurdistan. After al-Qaeda relocated to Khartoum, Sudan, in 1991, an al-Qaeda instructor visited Iraqi Kurdistan to train the IMK rebels in 1992.Beyond Iraq: The Future of World Order, 2011, pp. 114, {{ISBN|9789814324878}}

Shortly before the Halabja massacre, Saddam Hussein cracked down on Kurdish Islamic scholars, which led them to flee Halabja and go to Iran, where they had strong support. That was when the Kurdish mujahideen became active in Halabja, which would later become their stronghold. Many Kurds from Halabja concluded that Jihad was the best way to Iraq. The mujahideen received many Kurdish volunteers from Iran.{{Cite web |title=Journey to jihad: Iran's Sunni Kurds fighting a holy war in Idlib |url=https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/syria/23062020 |access-date=2022-05-14 |website=www.rudaw.net}}

The mujahideen participated in the Iran-Iraq War, but at the end of the war in 1988, they mostly halted their operations, but maintained a low-level insurgency against Iraq. In the 1991 Iraqi uprisings during the Gulf War, the mujahideen heavily increased their activities, and towards the end of the war, they slowed down again. They had over 10,000 fighters at their peak. In 1991, the Kurdish rebels established the Kurdistan Region, and the Kurdish mujahideen established the Islamic Emirate of Kurdistan within the autonomous Kurdistan Region.{{Cite web |date=May 8, 2019 |title=Los Angeles Review of Books |url=https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/more-poems-left-in-my-chest-a-portrait-of-the-poet-laureate-of-kurdish-jihad/ |website=Los Angeles Review of Books}}

The Islamic Emirate of Kurdistan was later seized by more radical elements within the Kurdish mujahideen, and the Islamist insurgency in Iraqi Kurdistan began. The united mujahideen ended after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, although the groups remained.{{Cite web |title=Islamic Movement of Kurdistan | Mapping Militant Organizations |url=http://stanford.edu/group/mappingmilitants/cgi-bin/groups/print_view/25#note58 |website=stanford.edu}}{{cite web | url=https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/syria/23062020 | title=Journey to jihad: Iran's Sunni Kurds fighting a holy war in Idlib }}

Osman Abdulaziz and Adham Barzani had hosted Hüseyin Velioğlu and his soldiers in Iraqi Kurdistan to train for an offensive against Turkey.{{Cite web |title=Hüseyin Velioğlu kimdir? - Yeni Akit |url=https://m.yeniakit.com.tr/amp/biyografi/huseyin-velioglu |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240323181225/https://m.yeniakit.com.tr/amp/biyografi/huseyin-velioglu |archive-date=March 23, 2024 |access-date=2024-03-03 |website=m.yeniakit.com.tr}}{{Cite web |date=1999-04-03 |title=Hizbullah Irak'ta eğitildi |url=https://www.milliyet.com.tr/the-others/hizbullah-irakta-egitildi-5252931 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240323181336/https://www.milliyet.com.tr/the-others/hizbullah-irakta-egitildi-5252931 |archive-date=March 23, 2024 |access-date=2024-03-07 |website=Milliyet |language=tr}}