The bomb attack against the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Ministry of Interior in Erbil last week that killed six Kurdish security guards (asayish) and wounded more than 60 people represents a rare event in the relatively secure northern enclave. The region had not experienced such an attack since 2007, which targeted the same ministry. Al-Qaeda’s Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack as a retaliation to KRG President Massoud Barzani’s stated willingness to assist the Iraqi government and Kurdish militias in Syria in combating terrorism.

Yet, a deeper look into the Erbil bombing reveals that it was more than a Syrian spillover or “the one that got through.” Although the investigation continues and conspiracy theories abound, local sources indicate that the bombing was part of a well-orchestrated escape from the KRG’s anti-terror prison linked to the Ministry of Interior in Erbil. Accordingly, the aim of the terrorists-escapees was to release one of their leaders affiliated with ISIS who had been detained in the security prison for years. The modus operandi was nearly identical to the Abu Ghraib prison break in Baghdad in July 2013, also perpetrated by ISIS.  

Additional issues indicate internal influences. How an explosives-filled ambulance was able to pass through the KRG’s Erbil checkpoint, particularly if driven by Arabs or foreigners as some claim, remains questionable. Equally dubious is the suicide of the asayish officer and head of camera surveillance of Erbil checkpoints and the security building the day after the bombing — reportedly due to large financial debt.  These issues have raised speculation about the underlying causes of the bombing that hint at the Kurdistan Region’s own radical Islamic challenges.

In part they can be traced to the four-year Kurdish civil war (1994-1998) which not only pitted the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) against the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), but created a power vacuum and breeding ground for radicalized members of the Islamic Movement of Kurdistan (IMK) to penetrate. The IMK eventually splintered into small groups that became the precursor to Ansar al-Islam, a local Al-Qaeda affiliate that operated in northern and central Iraq, particularly the Iranian border regions. Senior Ansar leaders were killed or imprisoned during coalition and KRG raids in 2006; however, the rank and file took refuge in Iran and/or joined other al-Qaeda groups operating in the region. These influences also can be found in the region today; the IMK recently won one seat in the Iraqi Kurdish parliamentary elections, even if the overall Islamic party votes declined.