The Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) has announced a propaganda offensive to attract more attention to its campaign of violence. The Sunni Islamist insurgent group made a start with an attack on the provincial council building in the town of Tikrit in March, which was swiftly followed by a video featuring the perpetrators. However, by its own admission, the ISI needs to sustain high-profile operations and related propaganda releases to resurrect its image as a potent jihadist force. Previously known as Al-Qaeda in Iraq, the ISI has suffered a series of major blows since adopting its current name in October 2006. It gained a reputation as a brutal, foreign-led extremist group that imposed its hardline interpretation of sharia (Islamic law) on Iraq's Sunni Arab community and killed anyone who opposed it. This encouraged the emergence of the Awakening movement, under which Sunni Arab tribesmen formed local militias to expel the jihadists, a development encouraged by the United States military. This growing Sunni Arab opposition helped thwart the ISI's efforts to establish a territorial base from where it could threaten the wider region. It is also likely to have encouraged other jihadist groups to keep their distance. Meanwhile, Iraq's Sunni Arabs voted in greater numbers in the March 2010 elections, ensuring that they are now far better represented in parliament than they were after boycotting earlier elections.
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