FACTBOX: Major al Qaeda leaders killed or captured

Thu May 1, 2008 6:19am EDT
 
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(Reuters) - U.S. war planes killed Aden Hashi Ayro, an Islamist commander thought to be al Qaeda's top man in Somalia, on Thursday. Below is a list of major al Qaeda figures killed or captured since 2001:

AFGHANISTAN:

* Mohammed Atef, one of the top leaders of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, was killed in a U.S. air strike in Afghanistan in November 2001.

* Abu Laith al-Libi, one of Osama bin Laden's top lieutenants who commanded militant forces in Afghanistan, was killed in February 2008 in a suspected U.S. missile strike that also killed up to 13 foreign militants.

ALGERIA:

* Hareg Zoheir, the deputy chief of al Qaeda's North Africa wing, was killed along with two other rebels in a gun battle with Algerian troops in October 2007.

IRAQ:

* Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al Qaeda's leader in Iraq, was killed in a U.S. air raid in June 2006.

* U.S. forces killed Muhammed Abdullah Abbas al-Issawi, described as a security emir for al Qaeda in Iraq, in April 2007.

* The U.S. military killed Muharib Abdul Latif al-Jubouri, an al-Qaeda figure accused of involvement in the kidnapping of American journalist Jill Carroll, in May 2007.

* Police killed Mohammed Yahya al-Rahmani, known as Abu Mussab, and three foreign militants near Samarra in Feb 2008.

* In April 2008 Iraqi authorities captured Nazal Sabar al-Jughaify, also known as Abu al-Jarrah, a senior lieutenant to al Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri.

PAKISTAN:

* Saudi-born Palestinian Abu Zubaydah was arrested after a shootout in the central Pakistani city of Faisalabad in March 2002. Zubaydah was operations director for al Qaeda and the first high-ranking member to be arrested.

* Ramzi Binalshibh, a Yemeni national and one-time roommate of Mohamed Atta, suspected ringleader of the September 11 hijackers, was captured in Karachi in September 2002.

* Security forces arrested Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, al Qaeda's number three and alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks, in a raid in Rawalpindi, near Islamabad, in March 2003.  Continued...

 

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