A former Iraqi intelligence officer has disclosed new information about Saddam Hussein's ties to the al-Qaida-related terrorist group Ansar al Islam.
The Iraqi intelligence agent, who currently is in the Al Suleimaniya prison, told interrogators he served as coordinator between the Iraqi Special Security Department and the hardline Kurdish fundamentalist groups, including Ansar al Islam.
Arabic press reports identified the officer as Haydar al Shammari, who used the pseudonym Abd al Rahman al-Shammari.
Shammari said that Ansar "was originally set up as a branch of al-Qaida organization in Kurdistan and had strong ties with Iraqi intelligence that exerted great efforts to bring the extremist Islamic elements in Kurdistan together and make them form a new organization in the name of Jund-al-Islam that later turned into Ansar al-Islam."
Iraqi intelligence opened several training camps for Ansar members to learn how to use explosives, conduct kidnappings and carry out suicide bombing attacks, according to the former officer.
Shammari said he was the liaison between Iraqi intelligence and the group. The official who was his superior for the ties was identified as Col. Sadun al-Ani, who also was known as Abu Wail.
Shammari revealed he met frequently with Arabs from Afghanistan who crossed into Iraq from Jordan and Syria.
The Arab Afghans included "a number of the best experts in explosives and booby-trapped vehicles and also in making chemical weapons," he said.
The former regime also set up several camps near Baghdad for the Arab Afghans to conduct training.
