Operation Viking Hammer | |||||||
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Part of Kurdistan Islamist Conflict and 2003 invasion of Iraq | |||||||
![]() Halabja city | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Units involved | |||||||
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Strength | |||||||
70 Americans (60 U.S. Army Special Forces members and 10 CIA SAD agents) 7,000 Peshmerga[4] | 600–800 fighters[5] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
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Operation Viking Hammer was an unconventional warfare operation during the Iraq War which took place in northern Iraq, commonly known as Iraqi Kurdistan. The goal of the operation was to eliminate Ansar al-Islam and dismantle the Islamic Emirate of Byara. Ansar al-Islam was established by former Al-Qaeda members in 2001 as a Kurdish Salafist movement that imposed a strict application of Sharia in villages it controlled.