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H THE WORLD; The Ever-Mutating Iraq Insurgency

S1 IN the last three months, as Americans debated military options in Iraq, the Sunni insurgency there seemed to grow more extreme.

S2 A network of some of the fiercest fighters, dominated by Al Qaeda in Iraq, forged formal new alliances with several rebel groups and may have begun to draw others into its orbit, according to Evan F. Kohlmann, a terrorism expert who tracks the insurgency.
S3 On Dec. 29, he published a report detailing the latest developments, which are noted in red on the accompanying graphic.

S4 Until 2006, Mr. Kohlmann said, the Qaeda group was ''essentially losing'' in Iraq.
S5 It was dominated by foreign recruits (its leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was Jordanian), limiting its appeal among Iraqis who resented outsiders.

S6 All that changed in February, when Al Qaeda in Iraq blew up the Askariya Mosque in Samarra, one of Shiite Islam's holiest shrines.

S7 ''That event opened the door to bloodletting between Sunnis and Shiites,'' Mr. Kohlmann said, which was the intent.
S8 The June killing of Mr. Zarqawi by American forces actually helped the Qaeda group, he said, by removing a leader who was a symbol of foreign influence.

S9 The Samarra bombing was followed by months of violent reprisals by Shiites against Sunnis.
S10 Al Qaeda in Iraq, virulently anti-Shiite, became a refuge for aggrieved and beleaguered Sunnis.
S11 Now the ascendent Qaeda group is led by Iraqis, mostly from Baghdad.

S12 Last week, the Bush administration retooled its military leadership in Iraq and continued to weigh a troop surge, struggling to cope with last year's spike in sectarian violence.

S13 BILL MARSH

S14 THE WORLD

