I dont know how accurate this source quoted in the article is According to Atmane Tazaghart and Roland Jacquard in the French Figaro magazine it was founded by Abu Abdallah Hassan Ben Mahmoud on the th of September  I havent been able to confirm this with any source on the internet The only information I have found about Ben Mahmoud is that he is a field commander with al Qaeda in Iraq I know the Washington post interviewed the current leader Ishmael Jubouri in Late November of   Try to solve this factual dispute quickly its already been quoted by many others