IRAQ - Sunni Imams Harbour Neo-Salafis.

US forces on July 21 stormed the Association of Muslim Scholars (AMS) HQ in Baghdad and arrested 18 armed Neo-Salafi militants of al-Qaeda. The AMS is the main Sunni religious group which claims control over 3,000 Sunni mosques throughout Iraq. The AMS, formed after the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, is made up of Sunni Arab imams who used to work as secret agents of Saddam's dictatorship.

American officials later said the July 21 raid proved that "the AMS was harbouring [Neo-Salafi] terrorists" despite frequent denials since 2004 by the association.