Kurdistan Brigades: what Wikipedia removed
The Kurdistan Brigades, al-Qaeda’s official Kurdish branch, was designated a terrorist organization by the US State Department in 2012. Through 2020 the opening stated, “The group was classified as a terrorist organization by the US State Department on January 1, 2012.” Today’s opening describes it only as a “militant Islamist organization” and the official Kurdish branch of al-Qaeda, with terror surviving four times elsewhere in the article, not the opening. A reader arriving now does not learn that the US State Department formally designated the group a terrorist organization.
The word “terror” appeared 2 times in this article’s opening at its peak, in 2020. Today the opening carries none; the body carries 4. Checked against the full current article on 2026-08-01.
The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot
Section titled “The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot”| word | 2015 | 2020 | 6 October 2023 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| terror | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| militant | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
| islamist | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
Counts are of the opening paragraph only, the part most readers, search engines and AI training sets ever quote.
What was taken out
Section titled “What was taken out”- The opening’s original identification of the group by its full name, al-Qaeda’s Kurdish Battalions, reworded rather than removed in substance.
- A passage identifying it as the Kurdish branch of al-Qaeda that launched attacks, reworded rather than removed in substance.
- The sentence stating the US State Department classified the group as a terrorist organization in 2012, dropped from the opening entirely.
How it opened then, and now
Section titled “How it opened then, and now”2015 (revision 645705750):
al-Qaeda Kurdish Battalions (AQKB) is a militant Islamist organization, primarily active in the northern Iran - Iraq border. It is a Kurdish -affiliated branch of al-Qaeda that has launched several attacks on the Kurdistan Regional Government in northern Iraq. The group was classified as a terrorist organization by the US State Department on January 1, 2012. ^ “Topic Galleries” . chicagotribune.com . Retrieved 29 January 2012 .
2025 (revision 1292348212):
Militant Islamist organization The Kurdistan Brigades ( Arabic : كتائب كردستان , Kurdish : کەتیبەکانی کوردستان ), are a Kurdish militant Islamist organization, primarily active in the Kurdish regions of Iraq and Iran . It is the official Kurdish branch of al-Qaeda . It has also launched several attacks on the Kurdistan Regional Government in northern Iraq ( Iraqi Kurdistan ). The group was overshadowed by other Islamist factions but remains active. ^ Hudson, Valerie (30 June 2015). The Hillary Doctrine . Columbia University. p. 154. ISBN 9780231539104 . Archived from the original on 20 October 2017 . Retrieved 15 January 2016 . ^ “Mapping Militant Organizations, Al Qaeda Kurdish Battalions” …
Related
Section titled “Related”- The drift report: what changed across all 61,944 watched articles
- The case file for this article, with every snapshot and every marked removal
- Who made the cuts: removals grouped by the account that made them
- The live article on Wikipedia
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