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Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) is a popular name for the Iraqi division of the international Salafi jihadi militant organization al-Qaeda. It is recognized as a part of the greater Iraqi insurgency.
The group was founded in 2003 and first led by the Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who declared allegiance to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network in October 2004. It was initially operating under the name 'Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad' ( , "Group of Monotheism and Jihad"); since 2004 its official name is 'Tanzim Qaidat al-Jihad fi Bilad al-Rafidayn' (QJBR) ("Organization of Jihad's Base in the Country of the Two Rivers"). Foreign (non-Iraqi) fighters are widely thought to play a key role in its network.
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