Video Documenting Attack on Police Station in Al-Muqdadiya, Iraq

This 57-minute video, titled "Liberate the Suffering" (Fukku Al-'Ani), posted November 19, 2006 on Islamist websites, documents the March 2006 attack on the police station in Al-Muqdadiya, Iraq, during which some 30 jihad fighters escaped from the station. This is the first video produced by Al-Furqan, the production company of the "Islamic State of Iraq." An edited version of the film, with graphic content removed, can be viewed at the following link: http://switch3.castup.net/cunet/gm.asp?ClipMediaID=355272&ak=null.

The film is divided into sections. The first section (which has been edited out of the version presented here owing to its graphic nature) depicts the suffering of prisoners in Iraqi jails. The second section, titled "The Military Plan," shows a field commander setting out the plan for the operation, presenting maps and giving details on forces, routes of advance, ambushes etc. He states that the goal of the operation is to storm the police station, the municipality building, and the courthouse, with the aim of freeing imprisoned jihad fighters. The third section of the film, titled "Physical and Psychological Preparations," shows the fighters preparing their weapons and ammunition. The fourth, titled "The Attack on the [Police] Station and Liberation of the Prisoners," shows the jihad fighters firing on the station and then storming it. Burning buildings and vehicles are shown. The fifth section of the video, titled "The Liberated Prisoners," shows dozens of prisoners escaping from the police station while calls of "Allah Akbar" are heard in the background. In the sixth, operation commander Abu Faruq Al-Ansari appears with his face masked, and reviews the operation and its goals. He promises to carry out more operations of this sort in the future. The seventh and final section, which is omitted from the version presented here, shows the bodies of three jihad fighters apparently killed in the operation.

Below are images from the video:

"The Islamic State in Iraq" Claims Responsibility for Downing an American F-16 Fighter Jet and a Black Hawk Helicopter

On November 28, 2006, the Islamic State of Iraq released a communiqué, via various Islamist websites, in which it claimed responsibility for the November 27 downing of an American F-16 fighter jet approximately 20 miles northwest of Baghdad. According to the message, the operation, a joint effort of the mujahideen of the Islamic State of Iraq and members of Jaysh Al-Mujahideen, followed recent instructions from Abu 'Omar Al-Baghdadi (the declared leader of the Islamic State in Iraq) to increase attacks on the "Crusaders' combat forces [in Iraq] and especially… their airplanes and helicopters."

According to the message, the attack was carried out at a time when four U.S. Black Hawk helicopters were landing forces in the vicinity of Karma, in the province of Baghdad. In addition to the F-16, the mujahideen claim to have downed one of the Black Hawks.

It should be noted that an Islamist website posted a picture of what appears to be the body of the pilot entangled in a parachute at the crash scene.

Below are images from the crash scene: