On 15 January 2006, in a statement posted to the jihadist website Hanin Net, 'al-Qaeda in Iraq' spokesman Abu Maysarah al-Iraqi announced the formation of the "Mujahideen Consultative Council" ("Majlis Shura al-Mujahideen fi al-Iraq").

The stated purpose of the council was "Managing the struggle in the battle of confrontation to ward off the invading kafir (infidels) and their apostate stooges.

[21] Elements of the Shura Council's organization from the top to the bottom remain fluid due both to the nature of its aims and methods as well as its loose confederation.

[23] They announced:[22][23] "...to implement God's sharia, … We swear by Allah to do our utmost to free the prisoners of their shackles, and to rid Sunnis from the oppression of the rejectionists [Shi'ite Muslims] and the crusader occupiers, to assist the oppressed and restore rights even at the price of our own lives… to make Allah's word supreme in the world, and to restore the glory of Islam".On the 13[24] and 15 October 2006, messages on Internet purportedly in the name of MSC and the Mutayibeen Coalition declared the establishment of the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) which should encompass the governorates of Baghdad, Anbar, Diyala, Kirkuk, Saladin, Nineveh and parts of Babil and Wasit – a swathe of central and western Iraq where most Sunni Arabs live.

The Council urged on Sunni Muslim tribal leaders to join their separate Islamic state "to protect our religion and our people, to prevent strife and so that the blood and sacrifices of your martyrs are not lost".