The group was founded by
Abu Omar al-Baghdadi with the support of
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, but exactly when is uncertain. In May 2004, Jaish al-Taif al-Mansour kidnapped Interenergoservice workers Alexander Gordienko and Andrei Meshcherakov and demanded the withdrawal of
foreign forces from Iraq. This group gained notoriety on August 31, 2005, due to the
mortar shelling near the
Al-Aimmah Bridge over the
Tigris river, across which a
Shia procession marched to the tomb of
imam Musa al-Kazim. As a result of the bombing, 7 people were killed and 35 injured, and another 935-1033 people died and 322-815 were injured in the ensuing stampede on the bridge in what became known as the
2005 Al-Aimmah Bridge disaster. On January 15, 2006, an organization known as the
Mujahideen Shura Council in Iraq announced its establishment. Jaish al-Ta'ifa al-Mansurah was declared one of its constituent groups, along with
al-Qaeda in Iraq, the Monotheism Brigades, the
Saraya al-Jihad group, the al-Ghurab Brigades and the al-Ahwal Brigades. ==See also==