They launched Operation Viking Hammer in March 2003, and the PUK retook the lands of the Islamic Emirate of Kurdistan.
[21][22][5] After the defeat of ISIL and the recapture of Tuz Khurmatu by Turkmen and Shiite Popular Mobilization Forces during the 2017 Iraqi–Kurdish conflict, the town and its surroundings came under almost daily rocket attacks by a militant faction that used a white flag with the blackhead of a lion.
[25] In a "Special Analysis" report from 31 July 2002, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency accused Ansar al-Islam of being connected to Saddam Hussein, stating that "the Iraqi regime seeks to influence and manipulate political events in the Kurdish-controlled north and probably has some type of assets in contact with Ansar al-Islam, either through liaison or through penetration by an intelligence asset.
[27] Rohan Gunaratna, who specialized in global security, in January 2003, had agreed with Mullah Krekar, stating that there was no proof of links between Ansar al-Islam and Saddam Hussein.
[27] Mullah Krekar himself was a veteran of the 1991 Iraqi uprisings and claimed that if Iraq had done anything against the Islamic Emirate of Kurdistan, he would have personally killed Saddam Hussein.
[25] In February 2003, Colin Powell, told the United Nations Security Council that "Baghdad has an agent in the most senior levels of the radical organization, Ansar al-Islam, that controls this corner of Iraq.
The Defense Intelligence Agency stated that senior Ansar al-Islam detainees denied any relationship with Saddam Hussein, claiming that he was an apostate.
[30][25][31] After Powell had left office, in an interview, he told Barbara Walters that his allegations of ties between Saddam Hussein and Ansar al-Islam were false and had tarnished his reputation.
"[32] Ali Berzengi and Ferman Abdullah, from Iraqi Kurdistan residing in Stockholm, raised money for what they claimed was poor children and Muslims.
[34] On 19 April 2004, Berzengi and Abdullah were arrested along with Shaho Shahab, from Iraqi Kurdistan, and Bilal Ramadan, born in Lebanon.
[35] In Abdullah's apartment, the police found a letter from a man who claimed to have contact with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, as well as a detailed lesson on coded language.
[39] Another early leading figure of Ansar al-Islam, Abu Abd al-Rahman, who was killed in October 2001, was convicted by the U.S. of ties to al-Qaeda.
[39] In a report dated 31 July 2002, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency concluded that "Ansar al-Islam is an independent organization that receives assistance from al-Qaeda, but is not a branch of the group.
[39] This, and the information about Shafi'i and Abd al-Rahman, led Colin Powell in January 2003 to claim that ties between Ansar al-Islam and al-Qaeda exist,[39] and that the U.S. was preparing to unveil new evidence of it.
[51][52] On 22 March 2003, Ansar al-Islam detonated a car bomb, killing Australian journalist Paul Moran and several others.
The group was also accused of the attempted bombing of a United States Department of Defense office in Erbil, on 9 September 2003, which killed three people.
Another attack was the stabbing of a police officer in Berlin on 17 September 2015, by Ansar al-Islam veteran Rafik Yousef, who previously attempted to assassinate Ayad Allawi.