CIAO DATE: 09/2010
August 2010
Institute of Foreign Policy Studies, University of Calcutta
On 18th July 2010, in one of the deadliest single terrorist strikes in Iraq this year, nearly forty three persons were killed and many were left seriously injured. The prime target of the latest terror strike were the members of the so called ‘Sunni Awakening’ Movement, consisting of motley groups of Sunni tribesmen of Iraq who have been recruited and used by the US army and the Iraqi administration as vigilante groups to target the insurgency groups and Al Qaeda operatives within the country since 2006. Similar Shiite vigilante groups have also been propped up in Iraq primarily to target Shiite insurgency groups like the Al Mahdi.
Resource link: U.S. led privatized counterinsurgency operations in conflict zones: One mistake followed by another blunder [PDF] - 92K