Albu Nimr or al-Bu Nimr ( ar, البو نمر or البونمر) is a
Sunni
Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...
Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
tribe (عشيرة ashirah) of some 500,000 people
living in the area of
Ramadi
Ramadi ( ar, ٱلرَّمَادِي ''Ar-Ramādī''; also formerly rendered as ''Rumadiyah'' or ''Rumadiya'') is a city in central Iraq, about west of Baghdad and west of Fallujah. It is the capital and largest city of Al Anbar Governorate whi ...
in
Al Anbar Governorate
Al Anbar Governorate ( ar, محافظة الأنبار; ''muḥāfaẓat al-’Anbār''), or Anbar Province, is the largest governorate in Iraq by area. Encompassing much of the country's western territory, it shares borders with Syria, Jordan, ...
of
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
. It is part of the larger
Dulaim
Dulaim or Dulaimi or Al Duliam or Dulaym ( ar, الدليم) is an Arab royal tribe, with over seven million members. The tribe's history goes back to pre-Islamic times and members reside today in Iraq and neighboring countries such as Syria, ...
tribe.
In the years after 2007, Albu Nimr was part of the
Sahwa militia
The Sons of Iraq ( ar, أبناء العراق ''Abnāʼ al-ʻIrāq'') were coalitions between tribal sheikhs in the Al Anbar province in Iraq as well as former Saddam Hussein's Iraqi military officers that united in 2005 to maintain stability ...
that fought
al-Qaeda in Iraq
Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI; ar, القاعدة في العراق, al-Qā'idah fī al-ʿIrāq) or Al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia ( ar, القاعدة في بلاد الرافدين, al-Qā'idah fī Bilād ar-Rāfidayn), officially known as ''Tanzim Qaidat a ...
. In 2014, it was one of the Sunni Arab tribes that fiercely opposed the
Islamic State
An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...
.
Mass killings of members of Albu Nimr
ISIL declared that Sunni Muslims who fight against their
Caliphate
A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...
are
apostates from Islam
Apostasy in Islam ( ar, ردة, or , ) is commonly defined as the abandonment of Islam by a Muslim, in thought, word, or through deed. An apostate from Islam is referred to by using the Arabic and Islamic term ''murtād'' (). It includes ...
who are to be executed.
At the end of October 2014, there were reports that fighters of the Islamic State massacred Albu Nimr tribesmen. The bodies of some 200 of them were found in a ditch used as a mass grave near
Hīt
Hīt, also spelled ''Heet'' ( ar, هيت), ancient name ''Is'', is an Iraqi city in Al-Anbar province. Hīt lies northwest of Ramadi, the provincial capital.
Straddling the Euphrates River, the city of Hīt was originally a small walled town su ...
, while at least 48 and possible more than 60 tribesmen were publicly executed inside the city. The Human Rights Ministry of Iraq said at the beginning of November 2014 that the number of people from Albu Nimr tribe killed was 322.
Hīt city
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...
reported on November 10, 2014, that according to tribal sources the Islamic State had carried out another mass killing of over 70 members of Albu Nimr tribesmen near Hit. Another 300 were missing. Tribal leaders said that more than 630 members of the Albu Nimr tribe were killed in the prior two weeks.
Another 16 members of the Albu Nimr tribe were executed by the Islamic State in Tharthar area, north of
Ramadi
Ramadi ( ar, ٱلرَّمَادِي ''Ar-Ramādī''; also formerly rendered as ''Rumadiyah'' or ''Rumadiya'') is a city in central Iraq, about west of Baghdad and west of Fallujah. It is the capital and largest city of Al Anbar Governorate whi ...
, according to reports on November 13, 2014.
On December 17, 2014, it was reported by Turkish media, that the Islamic State had executed at least 150 women from the Albu Nimr tribe in
Falluja for refusing to marry militants of the Islamic State. Some of the women were reported to be pregnant.
Seventy Albu Nimr members were shot dead by the Islamic State in the village of Khanizir, in Anbar Governorate, on the night of October 4, 2015. According to tribesman Sheikh Naeem al-Gaoud, they were killed "because they had relatives serving in the Iraqi security forces". He also stated that "the men targeted on Sunday had fled to Khanizir with their families from the homes in the al-Furat district of Ramadi after IS captured Anbar's provincial capital last May".
BBC: Islamic State 'executes 70 Sunni tribesmen in Iraq'
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See also
*Al-Shaitat
Al-Shaitat ( ar, الشُّعَيْطَاتُ, aš-Šuʿayṭāt), in Standard Arabic al-Shuʿaytāt, is a Sunni Arab clan which lives in the Deir ez-Zor Governorate in eastern Syria. Its membership numbers between 70,000 and 90,000 and it is l ...
References
{{Arab tribes in Iraq
Tribes of Iraq