( AP ) - An Iraqi insurgent group accused Iraqis who help the U.S. military of being criminals and bandits, referring to Sunni tribes fighting al-Qaida in the western Anbar province, according to a new video posted Wednesday.
In the 105-minute documentary style video that shows masked members of the Sunni insurgent group Ansar al-Sunnah interviewing fighters in Ramadi, the militants lashed out at Sheik Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha, the leader of the effort in Anbar who was killed in a bombing Sept. 13.
"The Americans did not find a more vicious villain. He is a bandit and a thief and they used him for this purpose," one of the insurgents said.
Abu Risha died 10 days after he met with President Bush during a surprise visit the U.S. leader made to highlight the turnaround in Anbar. He headed the Anbar Salvation Council, also known as the Anbar Awakening - an alliance of clans that were backing the Iraqi government and U.S. forces. Al-Qaida front group the Islamic State of Iraq claimed responsibility for Abu Risha's killing.
Ansar al-Sunnah said it and other loyal Sunnis are the ones protecting the people in the Anbar province, not the "enemy."
The video, which could not be independently verified, was posted on a Web site commonly used by Islamic militants.
Ansar al-Sunnah is believed to be an offshoot of another group, Ansar Al-Islam, which is made up mostly of Kurds with close links to al-Qaida in Iraq.
It has claimed responsibility for numerous suicide attacks, including the Aug. 2004 execution of 12 Nepalese hostages and the Dec. 2004 explosion at a U.S. military mess hall in Mosul that killed 22 people.