Misplaced Pages

Abu Ayyub al-Masri
أَبُو أَيُّوبَ ٱلْمَصْرِيُّ
Abu Ayyub al-Masri in an undated photo
2nd Emir of Al-Qaeda in Iraq
In office June 7, 2006 – October 15, 2006
Preceded by	Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
Succeeded by	Position abolished
2nd Emir of the Mujahideen Shura Council
In office June 7, 2006 – October 15, 2006
Preceded by	Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
Succeeded by	Abu Omar al-Baghdadi
War Minister of the Islamic State of Iraq
In office October 15, 2006 – April 18, 2010
Preceded by	Position created
Succeeded by	Abu Suleiman al-Naser
Prime Minister of the Islamic State of Iraq
In office September 9, 2009 – April 18, 2010
Preceded by	Abu Abdulrahman al-Falahi
Succeeded by	Abu Suleiman al-Naser
Personal details
Born	Abdel Moneim Ezz El-Din Ali Al-Badawi عبد المنعم عز الدين علي البدوي 1967 Kafr Al Asar, Sharqia Governorate, United Arab Republic (present-day Egypt)
Died	18 April 2010(2010-04-18) (aged 42–43) Tikrit, Saladin Governorate, Iraq
Cause of death	Airstrike
Military service
Allegiance	Muslim Brotherhood (Unknown–1982) Egyptian Islamic Jihad (1982–1999) Al-Qaeda (2002–2006) Al-Qaeda in Iraq (2004–2006) Mujahideen Shura Council (January–October 2006) Islamic State of Iraq(2006–2010)
Years of service	1980s–2010
Rank	Emir of Al-Qaeda in Iraq (June – October 2006) Emir of the Mujahideen Shura Council (June – October 2006) Minister of the Islamic State of Iraq (October 2006 – April 2010)
Battles/wars	Third Afghan Civil War Iraq War Iraqi Insurgency First Battle of Fallujah Second Battle of Fallujah Islamic Army-Al-Qaeda conflict

Abu Ayyub al-Masri (/ˈɑːbuː ɑːˈjuːb ɑːl ˈmɑːsri/ AH-boo ah-YOOB ahl MAHSS-ree; أَبُو أَيُّوبَ ٱلْمَصْرِيُّ, ʾAbū ʾAyyūb al-Maṣrī, translation: "Father of Ayyub the Egyptian"; 1967 – 18 April 2010), also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir (pronunciation; أَبُو حَمْزَةَ ٱلْمُهَاجِرِ ʾAbū Ḥamzah al-Muhāǧir, translation: "Father of Hamza the immigrant"), born Abdel Moneim Ezz El-Din Ali Al-Badawi (Arabic: عبد المنعم عز الدين علي البدوي), was an Egyptian militant leader who was the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq during the Iraqi insurgency, following the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in June 2006. He was war minister of the Islamic State of Iraq from 2006 to 2010 and prime minister of the Islamic State of Iraq from 2009 to 2010. He was killed during a raid on his safehouse on 18 April 2010.

Entry in militant groups

Abdel Moneim Ezz El-Din Ali Al-Badawi was born in Kafr Al Asar, Sharqia Governorate, Egypt. He joined the Muslim Brotherhood and, according to General Caldwell, joined Ayman al-Zawahiri's Egyptian Islamic Jihad in 1982, where he "worked with Zawahiri." Al-Masri went to Afghanistan in 1999, where he became affiliated with the Al-Qaeda network and attended Osama bin Laden's al-Farouk camp, becoming an expert with explosives.

Marriage

al-Masri entered Yemen using a fake passport under the name "Yussef Haddad Labib" and taught in village schools. He married Hasna Yahia Ali Hussein, a native of Yemen, in the capital Sanaa in 1998 and they had three children. Hasna was arrested in the same April 18 operation in the Lake Tharthar area, south of Baghdad, in which her husband was killed. "I only found out that he was Abu Ayyub al-Masri after the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi," Hasna subsequently stated, referring to the Jordanian commander of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, who was killed in a 2006 US air raid and replaced by her husband. Hasna asserted that her husband had always been a "secretive character". In 2011, his wife Hasna was sentenced to death in Iraq.

Move to Iraq

After the American invasion of Afghanistan, al-Masri went to Iraq via the United Arab Emirates in 2002, according to the subsequent account given by his widow. He lived initially in Baghdad's Karrada, then in the Amiriya fainal, and then al-Jadida, where he took charge of al-Qaeda's operations in the southern part of the country. The United States military said that Masri "helped draw other insurgent groups into al-Qaeda’s fold." DefenseLINK News reported that Masri "helped establish the Baghdad cell of al-Qaeda in early 2003". Soon after, he "worked the ‘rat line’ down the Euphrates River Valley supplying suicide bombers via Syria." After the US-led invasion, the family left Baghdad for Diyala to the north. Hasna related "The two-storey house where we were was hit in a US air raid. Then, one of the men was killed but my husband and I were able to escape to Fallujah" . al-Masri participated in the major 2004 battle of Fallujah. After US troops stormed the town in November 2004, the family moved again, this time to the town of Abu Ghraib, on the western outskirts of the capital. In 2007, al-Masri and his family moved to the Lake Tharthar area. "We were changing houses the whole time, right up to his death," claimed Hasna.

Killings allegedly committed by al-Masri

In a text posted online, al-Qaeda in Iraq claimed that Abu Hamza al-Muhajir personally killed two U.S. Army soldiers who disappeared after an ambush in Iraq on 16 June 2006, as a means of "making his presence felt." Their bodies were later found mutilated and booby-trapped in Yusufiyah, Iraq, on 19 June 2006.

On 20 September 2006, Abu Hamza al-Muhajir claimed responsibility for personally killing Turkish hostage Murat Yuce, whose execution was captured in a video first released in August 2004. Murat Yuce was killed with three gunshot wounds to the head. He had been kidnapped in late July 2004, along with Turk co-worker Aytullah Gezmen, who was released in September 2004.

Rise

Abu Ayyub al-Masri was on the list of persons wanted by the coalition forces and Iraqi authorities in 2005, or possibly earlier.

The Mujahideen Shura Council, which included Al-Qaeda in Iraq and other Iraqi insurgent groups, named Abu Hamza al-Muhajir as their new emir in June 2006 following the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. However, National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley said, "It’s not clear at this point who is in control. We’ve seen a number of different reports … In our view it’s not yet settled." On 15 October 2006, the Mujahideen Shura Council officially rebranded itself as the Islamic State of Iraq appointing Abu Omar al-Baghdadi as its emir and Abu Ayyub al-Masri as "Minister of War".

After Abu Omar al-Baghdadi's alleged capture by the American forces on 7 March 2007, the media started reporting about al-Masri's standing in the insurgency, and a video tape was released to the media in which al-Masri proclaims al-Baghdadi "the commander of the believers", with Iraqi Qaeda fighters under his command. al-Masri, as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, was denoted as "al-Zarqawi's successor" by the Coalition and the Bush administration posted a bounty on him, later raised to $25 million.

In 2008, the bounty was reduced to $100,000, with Central Command spokesman Jamie Graybeal stating that "The current assessment, based on a number of factors, shows that is not ... an effective leader of al Qaeda in Iraq as he was last year," although, as the spokesman stated, "for security reasons", he couldn't go into detail about the assessment. The reduction of reward money knocked al-Masri off the U.S. State Department "Rewards for Justice" program list and placed him on a Department of Defense list for people with lower bounties.

On October 24, 2008 an interview with Abu Ayyub al-Masri was released by the Al-Furqan Institute for Media Production. The audio runs for a total of 44 minutes. At one point he said his group carried out its "last operation in Britain, a good part of which was launched on the airport, and the rest was not carried out due to a mistake made by one of the brothers." There is support for this claim as just before the two men set off from Loch Lomond to Glasgow airport Kafeel Ahmed sent a text message to his brother Sabeel in Liverpool telling him to go to an email account. Secondly Bilal Abdulla (the other bomber) addressed his will to Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, "Minister of War", who were the leader and deputy leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq. There were reports that al-Muhajir recruited people for the plot between 2004 and 2005.

Reports of death

'Abu Hamza al-Muhajir' was erroneously reported killed during a US raid in Haditha in October 2006, and in an "internal battle between militants" in May 2007. The person killed in the latter report was actually Muharib Abdul Latif al-Jubouri, a senior member of Al-Qaida in Iraq and the "public relations minister" of al-Baghdadi's shadow cabinet.

Confirmed death

On April 18, 2010, Abu Ayyub al-Masri was killed in a joint American and Iraqi operation near Tikrit. The coalition forces believed al-Masri to be wearing a suicide vest and proceeded cautiously. After the lengthy exchange of fire and bombing of the house, the Iraqi troops stormed inside and found two women still alive, one of whom was al-Masri's wife, identified as al-Masri, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, and al-Baghdadi's son. A suicide vest was found on al-Masri's corpse, according to the Iraqi Army. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki announced the killings of Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayyub al-Masri at a news conference in Baghdad and showed reporters photographs of their corpses. "The attack was carried out by ground forces which surrounded the house, and also through the use of missiles," Maliki said. "During the operation computers were seized with e-mails and messages to the two biggest terrorists, Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri," Maliki added. U.S. forces commander Gen. Raymond Odierno praised the operation. "The death of these terrorists is potentially the most significant blow to al-Qaeda in Iraq since the beginning of the insurgency," he said. "There is still work to do but this is a significant step forward in ridding Iraq of terrorists." ISI spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani also confirmed both of their deaths in an audiotape released on a jihadist forum website.

On April 25, 2010, a four-page announcement by the Islamic State of Iraq organisation was posted on a militant website early Sunday confirming the deaths of al-Masri and al-Baghdadi. The ISI's shariah minister, Abu al-Walid Abd al-Wahhab al-Mashadani, stated in the announcement that the two leaders were attending a meeting when "enemy forces" engaged them in battle and launched an airstrike on their location. The announcement, in an apparent reference to the previous Friday's extensive bomb attacks, claimed that the "Crusaders and the Shi'ites will exploit the incident to improve the image of Iraqi security services and give the enemy alliance an 'illusory' victory after the mass-casualty incidents carried out by the ISI in Baghdad."

US Vice-President Joe Biden stated that the deaths of the top two al-Qaeda figures in Iraq are "potentially devastating" blows to the terror network there and proof that Iraqi security forces are gaining ground.

On May 14, 2010, al-Nasser Lideen Illah Abu Suleiman (الناصر لدين الله أبو سليمان an-Nāṣir li-Dīn-illāh ʾAbū Sulaymān) replaced al-Masri as war minister of the Islamic State of Iraq.

See also

• Abu Yaqub al-Masri

Notes

1. In a November 2010 interview by Kuwaiti news outlet al-Jarida with Ibrahim al-Banna, a senior leader of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, who met with Abu Hamza while he was in Yemen, claimed that Abu Hamza's real name was Abd-al-Mun’im al-Badawi, which supported an earlier 2009 al-Qaeda statement describing the makeup of a new "War Cabinet".

References

1. Youssef Aboul-Enein, Militant Islamist Ideology: Understanding the Global Threat, Naval Institute Press, 2011, p. 228.
2. "Al-Qaeda confirms death of top leader" UPI, 26 April 2004
3. Wanted Poster on al-Masri Archived October 5, 2006, at the Wayback Machine (in Arabic), US Department of State.
4. ^ Wanted Poster on al-Masri Archived February 13, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, US Department of State.
5. "Jay Solomon, "Jordan Emerges as a Vital U.S. Ally", WSJ 10 June 2006". Archived from the original on December 23, 2007.
6. "Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, Zarqawi's Mysterious Successor (aka Abu Ayub al-Masri)". Council on Foreign Relations. 13 June 2006. Archived from the original on June 2, 2011. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
7. "Declaration of the Second Cabinet Reshuffle for the Islamic State of Iraq". Web Archive.
8. ^ "مظاهرة أمام السفارة العراقية بالقاهرة لعدم تنفيذ حكم الإعدام بحق زوجة أبو أيوب المصرى". youm7.com (in Arabic). 2 May 2011.
9. Jocelyn, Thomas (6 January 2017). "State Department designates founding member of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula". Long War Journal. Public Multimedia Inc. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
10. "U.S.: 2 of Al Qaeda's Top Leaders Killed in Iraq". CBC News. CBS Interactive Inc. 19 April 2010. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
11. "Biden calls leaders' deaths 'devastating' to al-Qaida" by Garamone, Jim; American Forces Press Service; 16 June 2006
12. "US publish picture of new al-Qaeda leader in Iraq" The Times, 15 June 2006
13. "Slain Qaeda militant 'arrived in Iraq under Saddam'", Agence France-Presse, hosted by Google, 28 April 2010
14. Confusion swirls over Zarqawi successor, UPI, 20 June 2006
15. ^ "New Terror Chief?", CNN transcripts, 15 June 2006
16. "Masri Now Leads Iraq Al Qaeda, Coalition Officials Say" Archived April 11, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, American Forces Press Service, 16 June 2006
17. Picture of a weakened Iraq insurgency, The Christian Science Monitor, 16 June 2006
18. Al-Zarqawi’s death opens new windows into al-Qaeda network Archived September 30, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, AP, 18 June 2006
19. al-Khairalla, Mussab (21 June 2006). "Al-Qaeda says new leader 'beheaded' kidnapped US soldiers". The Scotsman. Archived from the original on 26 October 2007. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
20. Filkins, Dexter (21 June 2006). Tavernise, Sabrina; Mahmood, Mona; Hassan, Khalid (eds.). "U.S. Says 2 Bodies Retrieved in Iraq Were Brutalized". The New York Times. p. A1. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
21. "US soldiers' bodies mutilated, booby-trapped". CNN. Time Warner Company. 20 June 2006. Archived from the original on August 24, 2006. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
22. "Turkish hostage shot to death in Iraq". China Daily. 3 August 2004. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
23. "Hostage on the way home after 52 days in captivity". Turkish Daily News. September 16, 2004. Archived from the original on 26 January 2013. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
24. Abu Ayyub al-Masri at GlobalSecurity.org
25. "Confusion swirls over Zarqawi successor". United Press International (UPI). 20 June 2006.
26. "Iraq: Top Insurgent Leader Nabbed" CBC News, 9 March 2007
27. "Iraq : Country of Origin Information Report, UK Home Office, Border and Immigration Agency, 30 April 2007
28. "Reward for wanted terrorist drops", CNN report, 13 May 2008
29. "Talisman Gate بـاب الطلــسم: Abu Hamza al-Muhajir's Interview: Very Revealing". Archived from the original on 2018-12-16. Retrieved 2018-12-16.
30. "Al-Qaida appears to claim Glasgow attack". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com.
31. Correspondent, Duncan Gardham, Security (December 16, 2008). "Glasgow bomb plot: Wills to families left by airport terrorists" – via www.telegraph.co.uk. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
32. "Two Men Linked To Both U.K. Plots". www.cbsnews.com. 3 July 2007.
33. "Iraqis test dead militant's DNA", BBC, 5 October 2006
34. "Al-Qaeda in Iraq leader 'killed'" BBC, 1 May 2007
35. "Islamic State of Iraq defense minister captured" The Long War Journal, Foundation for Defense of Democracies, 27 December 2007
36. "2 Most Wanted Al Qaeda Leaders in Iraq Killed by U.S., Iraqi Forces". Fox News. 19 April 2010.
37. "Iraqi Security Forces kill top 2 AQI leaders". usf-iraq.com. 19 April 2010. Archived from the original on 2011-11-02.
38. "US : Al-Qaida in Iraq warlord slain" MSNBC, 20 April 2010.
39. "Al-Qaeda in Iraq says leaders dead" al-Jazeera, 25 April 2010.
40. "Iraqi al-Qaeda leaders 'killed'". BBC News. 19 April 2010.
41. "SITE: Qaeda in Iraq names new 'war minister1" Archived 2017-11-11 at the Wayback Machine MiddleEastOnline, 14 May 2010.

v t e Al-Qaeda
Leadership	Saif al-Adel Abd al-Rahman al-Maghribi Sa'ad bin Atef al-Awlaki Ahmad Umar Iyad Ag Ghaly Ezedin Abdel Aziz Khalil Abu Ubaidah Youssef al-Annabi Ali Sayyid Muhamed Mustafa al-Bakri Ibrahim al-Banna Ibrahim al Qosi Abu Walid al-Masri Mohammed Showqi Al-Islambouli Abdukadir Mohamed Abdukadir Fuad Qalaf Jehad Mostafa Abu Humam al-Shami Sami al-Oraydi
Former leadership	Killed Osama bin Laden (killing) Ayman al-Zawahiri (killing) Mohammed Atef Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi Mustafa Mohamed Fadhil Haitham al-Yemeni Abu Hamza Rabia Muhsin Musa Matwalli Atwah Abu Musab al-Zarqawi Omar al-Faruq Haitham al-Badri Abu Yaqub al-Masri Abu Talha al-Sudani Abu Laith al-Libi Abu Sulayman Al-Jazairi Midhat Mursi Mohamed Moumou Khalid Habib Abu Ghadiya Abu Zubair al-Masri Rashid Rauf Mohammad Hasan Khalil al-Hakim Fahid Mohammed Ally Msalam Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan Saad bin Laden Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan Abdullah Said al Libi Saleh al-Somali Saeed al-Masri Hamza al-Jawfi Ahmed Mohammed Hamed Ali Mohamed Abul-Khair Sheikh Fateh Huthaifa al-Batawi Ilyas Kashmiri Fazul Abdullah Mohammed Atiyah Abd al-Rahman Anwar al-Awlaki Samir Khan Tariq al-Dahab Muhammad Sa'id Ali Hasan Fahd al-Quso Abu Yahya al-Libi Hassan Ghul Abu-Zaid al Kuwaiti Said Ali al-Shihri Farman Ali Shinwari Abdelhamid Abou Zeid Ibrahim Haji Jama Mee'aad Abu Mansoor Al-Amriki Said Bahaji Abu Khalid al-Suri Omar Ould Hamaha Ahmed Abdi Godane Abu Yusuf Al-Turki Adnan Gulshair el Shukrijumah Adam Yahiye Gadahn Harith bin Ghazi al-Nadhari Othman Ahmad Othman al-Ghamdi Ibrahim Sulayman Muhammad al-Rubaysh Nasser bin Ali al-Ansi Nasir al-Wuhayshi Muhsin al-Fadhli Abu Khalil al-Madani Matiur Rehman Abu Firas al-Suri Ahmed Refai Taha Mokhtar Belmokhtar Abu Khayr al-Masri Ibrahim al-Asiri Hamza bin Laden Sari Shihab Asim Umar Qasim al-Raymi Abdelmalek Droukdel Khalid al-Aruri Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah Abu Muhsin al-Masri Captured Mamdouh Mahmud Salim Wadih el-Hage Khalid al-Fawwaz Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Walid bin Attash Riduan Isamuddin Ali al-Bahlul Ahmed Ghailani Abu Faraj al-Libbi Mustafa Setmariam Nasar Abdul Hadi al Iraqi Muhammad Jafar Jamal al-Kahtani Mohamed Atiq Awayd Al Harbi Younis al-Mauritani Sulaiman Abu Ghaith Abu Anas al-Libi Muhanad Mahmoud Al Farekh Mukhtar Robow Amin al-Haq Other Abu Ubaidah al-Banshiri (died) Abu Ubaidah al-Masri (died) Mahfouz Ould al-Walid (left) Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (expelled) Abu Mohammad al-Julani (left) Abu Maria al-Qahtani (left) Ahmad Salama Mabruk (left) Abu Omar al-Turkistani (left) Abu Sulayman al-Muhajir (left) Khalid Batarfi (died)
Timeline of attacks	1998 United States embassy bombings 2000 USS Cole bombing 2001 September 11 attacks 2002 Bali bombings 2004 Madrid train bombings 2005 London bombings 2007 Algiers bombings 2008 Islamabad Danish embassy bombing 2008 Islamabad Marriott Hotel bombing 2013 In Amenas hostage crisis 2013 Westgate shopping mall attack 2015 Charlie Hebdo shooting 2015 Garissa University College attack 2015 Bamako hotel attack 2016 Ouagadougou attacks 2016 Grand-Bassam shootings 2016 Bamako attack 2019 Naval Air Station Pensacola shooting
Wars	Soviet–Afghan War Afghan Civil War (1989–1992) Afghan Civil War (1992–1996) First Chechen War Afghan Civil War (1996–2001) Second Chechen War War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) Iraq War Somali Civil War War in North-West Pakistan (drone strikes) Insurgency in the Maghreb (2002–present) Syrian civil war Yemeni civil war (2014–present) Al-Qaeda insurgency in Yemen Houthi insurgency
Affiliates	Al-Shabaab (Somalia) Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (Yemen) Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (North Africa) Egyptian Islamic Jihad (Egypt) Al-Qaeda in the Indian subcontinent (Indian subcontinent) Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (Mali) Hurras al-Din (Syria)
Charity organizations	Benevolence International Foundation Al-Haramain Foundation
Media	Al Qaeda Handbook Al Neda As-Sahab Al-Andalus Media Al-Kataib Media Foundation Radio al-Andalus Shahada News Agency Al-Malahem Media Inspire Az-Zallaqa Foundation Fatawā of Osama bin Laden Al-Khansaa Kuala Lumpur al-Qaeda Summit Management of Savagery Voice of Jihad Qaedat al-Jihad Global Islamic Media Front
Video and audio	Videos and audio recordings of Osama bin Laden Videos and audio recordings of Ayman al-Zawahiri USS Cole bombing
Related	Safe houses Saddam–al-Qaeda conspiracy theory Timeline
Category:Al-Qaeda

• 1967 births
• 2010 deaths
• Assassinated al-Qaeda leaders
• Al-Qaeda leaders
• Deaths by firearm in Iraq
• Egyptian al-Qaeda members
• Egyptian Islamic Jihad
• Egyptian Islamists
• Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood members
• Egyptian Sunni Muslims
• Fugitives wanted by Iraq
• Leaders of Islamic terror groups
• Members of al-Qaeda in Iraq
• People from Sharqia Governorate
• Salafi jihadists