the battalion was mostly composed of arabs. although there existed kurdish jihadists in relatively small numbers. all known emirs (leaders) are deceased. its first emir was ibn al-khattab (saudi) who was killed in march 2002 and succeeded by abu al-walid (saudi), who was killed in april 2004. his successor became abu hafs al-urduni (jordanian) who was killed in november 2006. he was succeeded by muhannad (saudi), who was killed in a clash with security forces in the chechen village of serzhen-yurt on 21 april 2011. several weeks later, his successor abdulla kurd (kurd) was also killed. the battalion was split into multiple units of mujahideen commanded by their respective emirs.