Guide Note
Abu Ayyub al-Masri, also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, is thought to be the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq.
On May 8, 2008 Iraqi forces arrested a man thought to be al-Masri in Mosul, northern Iraq. Mosul is regarded as one of the Al Qaeda's last major hold-outs in the country. Reports later said it was a man with a similar name.
Al-Masri took over control of Al-Qaeda in Iraq after his predecessor, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed in a US air strike June 2006.
He is thought to have met al-Zarqawi at an Al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan in 2001 then going on to help Zarqawi create the first al-Qaeda cell in Baghdad.
In April 2007, he was named "minister of war" in the 10 man Islamic State of Iraq cabinet, a collective of Sunni Islam organizations of militant groups.
The combined US Iraqi forces have been fighting for control of Mosul for months leading up to al-Masri's arrest. Sunni extremists moved there after they turned against their former Al Qaeda allies - the Sunni Awakening.
Fast Facts
- US military placed five million dollar bounty on al-Masri
- 2007: became involved in Islamic State of Iraq
- 1982: joined Egyptian Islamic Jihad
- Expert in explosives, making car/truck bombs
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