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Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar, known as Abu Khabab al-Masri (Arabic:مدحت مرسي السيـد عمر)(born April 29, 1953, Egypt) is a chemist and alleged top bomb maker for al-Qaeda and part of Osama bin-Laden's inner circle. The United States has a US$5 million bounty on his head. Although reportedly killed in a U.S. attack in January 2006, intelligence officials now believe he is alive and in charge of resurrecting al Qaeda's program to develop or obtain weapons of mass destruction.[1]
[edit] Al-Qaeda activities
He is believed by U.S. authorities to have run the infamous Derunta training camp in Afghanistan where he is reported to have used dogs and other animals for his chemical experiments. He is also alleged to have written an explosives manual, and to have personally trained Richard Reid, the so-called "shoe bomber", as well as Zacarias Moussaoui. The manual is still in use by al-Qaeda operatives today.
[edit] Misreported death
He was reported to have been killed in the Damadola airstrike in Pakistan on January 13, 2006 along with several other al-Qaeda operatives.[1][2] The target of the strike was Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda's number 2 man. Pakistani intelligence originally confirmed Mursi's death in the airstrike along with al-Zawahiri's alleged son-in-law, Abdul Rehman al-Maghribi, but on September 8, 2007 the Washington Post, citing "U.S. and Pakistani officials", said that all the dead in that raid had been locals.[3]
[edit] Wrong photo
The CIA acknowledged on January 26, 2006 that they had been using a photo of Abu Hamza al-Masri in their wanted photo for Midhat Mursi, who shared the similar alias "Abu Khabab al Masri".[4][5][6] Midhat Mursi's poster at the Rewards for Justice Program now carries a different photo.
[edit] References
- ^ WANTED: Midhat Mursi al-Sayid 'Umar - Up to $5 Million Reward. Rewards for Justice Program, US Department of State
- ^ U.S. Strike Killed Al Qaeda Bomb Maker: Terror Big Also Trained 'Shoe Bomber,' Moussaoui, ABC, January 18, 2006
- ^ The New Al-Qaeda Central, Washington Post, 8 September 2007
- ^ Report: U.S. used wrong terrorist photo, United Press International, January 26, 2006
- ^ Wrong Photo Posted Of Al-Qaida Fugitive: Web Site Now Uses Silhouette, NBC, January 26, 2006
- ^ U.S. posts wrong photo of ‘al-Qaida operative’: After year and a half, wrong man's photo removed from wanted page, MSNBC, January 26, 2006
