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Estimates of the number of insurgents in Iraq range from a few thousand to more than 50,000, a vast majority of believed to be Iraqi Sunnis. US commanders, however, say that most of the deadliest attacks, and particularly suicide attacks, are committed by foreigners from a range of neighbouring countries. Active groups in Iraq are:

Mujahidin Shura Council: Includes Al-Qaeda, led till date by Zarqawi, and smaller Iraqi-led groups. The group’s tactics include attacks carried out with bombs, mortar against Iraqi and US soldiers, as well as, increasingly, Iraqi civilians, most of them Shi’ite. Two of its “brigades”, or affiliates, (the bin Malik and the Al-Ansar) are devoted solely to suicide attacks. Another, the Omar Brigade, is said to target only members of the Badr organisation, a feared Shi’ite militia.

Islamic Front of the Iraqi Resistance: Maintains a website and publishes a magazine called Jami (“mosque” or “gathering”). Has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks in and around Mosul, Iraq’s third-largest city.

Ansar al-Sunnah: (“Partisans of the law”). Iraqi Sunnis who adhere to a strict, fundamentalist form of Islam called Salafism. Their tactics and religious underpinnings are similar to those of Al-Qaeda, but the two groups are considered bitter rivals for influence within the insurgent community. Among their best-known attacks was a roadside bomb blast that killed 14 Marines in August.

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Islamic Army: Sunnis. As many as three-quarters of its attacks, which include improvised bombs and kidnappings but not suicide attacks, are conducted against US forces and non-Iraqi contractors. It often releases video footage of its operations. Publishes a monthly magazine called Al-Fursan.

Other smaller groups: Mujahidin Army is a group that has released videos of bomb, rocket and sniper attacks, most of them directed against US forces. Muhammad Army is made up mostly of Iraqi former Baathists and a few foreign fighters and claims credit for the 2003 bombing of the UN headquarters that killed 23 people. 1920 Revolution Brigades has claimed responsibility for a number of kidnappings of Westerners and Iraqis working with US forces and is named for the Iraqi uprising against the British after WW I. Conquering Army is a new group that has released videos on the Internet and to regional TV networks showing kidnapping victims confessing to various “crimes” such as working with US forces. Swords of the Righteous gained prominence by claiming responsibility for the kidnapping of four Christian Peacemaker workers. Iraqi Vengeance Brigades released videos showing abducted American journalist Jill Carroll in January.