Terrorists fight over suicide bombers

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Despite popular belief, the manpower pool for suicide attackers or other operatives remains small and terrorist groups don't want the incompetents, reports Geostrategy-Direct, the global intelligence news service.

This means finding the unlikely combination of someone with brains who's also willing to blow himself up.

The result has been heavy competition for recruits among al-Qaida-inspired groups. The competition is heaviest in Iraq, where the salaries and bonuses for operatives have been steadily increasing. Naturally, the job requires additional incentives for risks.

"You find that terrorist groups are very competitive to get recruits," said State Department counterterrorism coordinator Cofer Black. "They compete with each other. There is a limited pool of people that are interested, and a small percentage of people that are interested in joining these groups."

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Among the major players in Iraq is Ansar Al Islam, which has been in decline over the last few months amid a split. The new Ansar leader is Abu Abdullah Shafi, who has been trying to attract other groups, including the Kurdistan Islamic Group, for a merger. Another player is the Ansar Al Sunna Army, believed to be a splinter group of Shafi's organization and which contains former members of the Saddam regime.

The terrorist start-ups in Iraq are believed to be Muhammad's Army and a range of cells linked to Ansar Al Sunna. They include Al-Shahid Aziz Taha Squad, Al-Tawhid Batallion, Saad Bin Abu Waqqas Group, Asad Al Islam Brigade, the Hanifah Al-Nu'man Brigades, the Abdallah Bin Al Zubayr Squad, the Mu'ad Ibn Jabal Unit and the Yasin Al Bahr regiment.

Western intelligence sources said the key competition is between Ansar Al Islam and the spate of new terrorist groups. The sources said Ansar has tried to become the leading al-Qaida-inspired group in Iraq, both in the Sunni Triangle and in the Kurdish sector of northern Iraq. In Fallujah, alone, the sources said, there are at least 18 terrorist cells.

"So you will find active competition among the various groups, particularly localized groups for recruits to their side," Black said. "So I think that that is a fact of life. There is internal competition. I think the universe is essentially limited, the potential pool of candidates for these groups."

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