| Zuher al-Tbaiti | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Saudi Arabian |
| Known for | 2002 Strait of Gibraltar terror plot |
Zuher al-Tbaiti (Arabic: زهير التبايتي) is a Saudi Arabian who was arrested in Morocco in May 2002 as the suspected ringleader of the al-Qaeda plot to bomb American and British vessels transiting the Strait of Gibraltar. He was sentenced to ten years in prison along with two other Saudis, Abdullah al-Ghamdi and Hilal al-Assiri.
Al-Tbaiti served as a military commander in Afghanistan before joining the Bosnian mujahideen as an artillery expert during the Bosnian War in the 1990s. Along with al-Ghamdi and al-Assiri, he escaped Afghanistan in 2001 during the Battle of Tora Bora, and arrived in Morocco.
References
- Richardson, Michael (2004). A Time Bomb for Global Trade: Maritime-related Terrorism in an Age of Weapons of Mass Destruction. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. pp. 19–20. ISBN 9789812302465.
- Botha, Anneli (June 2008). "Terrorism in the Maghreb: The Transnationalisation of Domestic Terrorism: Chapter 3: Terrorism in Morocco". Institute for Security Studies.
- Frantz, Douglas (24 June 2002). "U.S. Enlists Morocco's Help To Counter Terrorist Plots". The New York Times.