Al-Qaeda Kurdish Battalions

Al-Qaeda Kurdish Battalions (AQKB) is a militant Islamist organization, primarily active in the northern Iran-Iraq border. It is a Kurdish-affiliated branch of al-Qaeda that has launched several attacks on the Kurdistan Regional Government in northern Iraq. The group was classified as a terrorist organization by the US State Department on January 1, 2012.

Formation
AQKB was founded in 2007 after the disbandment of Ansar al-Islam, another al-Qaeda affiliated group. The group is considered to be relatively small but has camps in the Iranian towns of Mariwan and Sanandej.

Attacks
The group has launched several attacks, including its largest one being against KRG's Ministry of Interior in Erbil that killed 19 people in May 2007. AQKB killed 7 border guards and one PUK security officer in Penjwan in July 2007. In September 2010, two police officers were hurt by a failed suicide attack in Sulaymaniyah.