Mohammed Atef ( ar, محمد عاطف, ; born Sobhi Mohammed Abu Sitta Al-Gohary, also known as Abu Hafs al-Masri) was the military chief of

al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military targets in various countr ...

, and was considered one of

Osama bin Laden Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until his death in 2011. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, his group is designated ...

's two deputies, the other being

Ayman Al Zawahiri Ayman Mohammed Rabie al-Zawahiri (June 19, 1951 – July 31, 2022) was an Egyptian-born terrorist and physician who served as the second emir of al-Qaeda from June 16, 2011, until his death. Al-Zawahiri graduated from Cairo University with a ...

, although Atef's role in the organization was not well known by intelligence agencies for years. He was killed in a US airstrike in November 2001. Atef served two years in the

Egyptian Air Force The Egyptian Air Force (EAF) ( ar, القوات الجوية المصرية, El Qūwāt El Gawīyä El Maṣrīya), is the aviation branch of the Egyptian Armed Forces that is responsible for all airborne defence missions and operates all mili ...

and became an

agricultural engineer Agricultural engineering, also known as agricultural and biosystems engineering, is the field of study and application of engineering science and designs principles for agriculture purposes, combining the various disciplines of mechanical, civil ...

. He was also a police officer and a member of the group

Egyptian Islamic Jihad The Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ, ar, الجهاد الإسلامي المصري), formerly called simply Islamic Jihad ( ar, الجهاد الإسلامي, links=no) and the Liberation Army for Holy Sites, originally referred to as al-Jihad, and ...

before he moved to Afghanistan to repel the Soviet invasion, while operating from

Peshawar Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...

.Raman, B.

South Asia Analysis Group South Asia Analysis Group (SAAG) is a non-profit think tank based in India which conducts public interest and advocacy work. The group consists of Indian academics and former government officials. The self-stated objectives of the group include adva ...

"USA's Afghan Ops"
, November 20, 2001 He has been credited as having convinced

Abdullah Azzam Abdullah Yusuf Azzam ( ar, عبد الله يوسف عزام, translit=‘Abdu’llāh Yūsuf ‘Azzām; ) was a Salafi jihadist, a Palestinian scholar, and theologian of Sunni Islam. During the Soviet–Afghan War of the 1980s, he advocated " d ...

to abandon his life and devote himself to preaching

jihad Jihad (; ar, جهاد, jihād ) is an Arabic word which literally means "striving" or "struggling", especially with a praiseworthy aim. In an Islamic context, it can refer to almost any effort to make personal and social life conform with G ...

at this time. Atef was sent to an

Afghan training camp Afghan may refer to: *Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia *Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity ** Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pas ...

where he met Ayman al-Zawahiri, who later introduced him to Osama bin Laden. He attended two meetings from August 11 to 20 in 1988, along with bin Laden, al-Zawahiri, Mamdouh Mahmud Salim,

Jamal al-Fadl Jamal Ahmed al-FadlJamal al-Fadl testimony, United States vs. Osama bin Laden et al., trial transcript, Day 2, Feb. 6, 2001. ( ar, جمال أحمد محمّد الفضل, ''Jamāl Aḥmad Muḥammad al-Faḍl'') (born 1963-) is a Sudanese milita ...

, Wa'el Hamza Julaidan, and Mohammed Loay Bayazid and eight others, to discuss the founding of "al-Qaeda". Bin Laden later sent a letter to Mohammed Loay Bayazid informing him that Atef and

Abu Ubaidah al-Banshiri Abu Ubaidah al-Banshiri ( ar, أبو عبيدة البنشيري; May 1950 – 23 May 1996) was the ''nom de guerre''Saudi riyal The Saudi riyal ( ar, ريال سعودي ') is the currency of Saudi Arabia. It is abbreviated as or SAR ''(Saudi Arabian Riyal)''. It is subdivided into 100 halalas ( ar, هللة '). The currency is pegged to the US dollar at a constant rate ...

s monthly, the same as they had been given for their work in

Maktab al-Khidamat The ''Maktab al-Khidamat'' () was an Arab charitable organization founded in 1984 by Abdullah Azzam, Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri and other volunteers during the Soviet–Afghan War, It raised funds and recruited foreign mujahideen for the ...

In the Sudan

Atef followed al-Qaeda to the Sudan in 1992 until the group was forced to leave, following the execution of the teenaged son of Ahmad Salama Mabruk, and Atef moved to Afghanistan.

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

Chapter VI: Muhammad al-Zawahiri and Hussain al-Zawahiri
/ref> In 1994, he refused to allow American

double agent In the field of counterintelligence, a double agent is an employee of a secret intelligence service for one country, whose primary purpose is to spy on a target organization of another country, but who is now spying on their own country's organ ...

Ali Mohammed to know which name and passport he would be traveling under, expressing concerns that Mohammed could be working with the American authorities. He traveled to

Mombasa Mombasa ( ; ) is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of the British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital city status. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. The town is ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

where he met with Mohammed Odeh and gave him money to purchase himself a 7-tonne trawler and start a fishing business. While in the Sudan, he allegedly conducted a study which resulted in him presenting al-Qaeda details on why

aircraft hijacking Aircraft hijacking (also known as airplane hijacking, skyjacking, plane hijacking, plane jacking, air robbery, air piracy, or aircraft piracy, with the last term used within the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States) is the unlawfu ...

s were a poor idea as they were engineered to allow the negotiation of hostages in exchange for prisoners, rather than inflicting damage. Another alleged study he carried out determined that the

Afghan Arabs Afghan Arabs (also known as Arab-Afghans) are Arab and other Muslim Islamist mujahideen who came to Afghanistan during and following the Soviet–Afghan War to help fellow Muslims fight Soviets and pro-Soviet Afghans. Estimates of the volu ...

and

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamist, jihadist, and Pasht ...

could together topple the dictatorship of

Pervez Musharraf General Pervez Musharraf ( ur, , Parvez Muśharraf; born 11 August 1943) is a former Pakistani politician and four-star general of the Pakistan Army who became the tenth president of Pakistan after the successful military takeover of t ...

in Pakistan, and the government of Iran. In 1995, Atef gave

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (sometimes also spelled Shaikh; also known by at least 50 pseudonyms; born March 1, 1964 or April 14, 1965) is a Pakistani Islamist militant held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp under terrorism-re ...

details for a contact in Brazil. National Commission on Terrorist Attacks, 9/11 Commission, p. 148 When Mohammed returned to Afghanistan, he turned to Atef to set up a meeting with bin Laden in

Tora Bora Tora Bora ( ps, توره بوړه, "Black Cave") is a cave complex, part of the Spin Ghar (White Mountains) mountain range of eastern Afghanistan. It is situated in the Pachir Aw Agam District of Nangarhar, approximately west of the Khyber ...

, at which he told the pair his plans for military attacks against the United States. Prior to 1996,

Abu Ubaidah al-Banshiri Abu Ubaidah al-Banshiri ( ar, أبو عبيدة البنشيري; May 1950 – 23 May 1996) was the ''nom de guerre''Enaam Arnaout Enaam M. Arnaout ( Kunya: ''Abu Mahmoud'';Fitzgerald, Patrick J. United States of America v. Enaam M. Arnaout,Governments Evidentiary Proffer Supporting the Admissibility of Co-Conspirator Statements, before Hon. Suzanne B. Conlon born 1962) is a S ...

in purchasing

AK-47 The AK-47, officially known as the ''Avtomat Kalashnikova'' (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is a gas-operated assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian small-arms d ...

s and mortar rounds from a Pashtun tribesman named Hajjji Ayoub, and they were subsequently delivered in large trucks to the Jawr and Jihad Wahl training camps.Fitzgerald, Patrick J. United States of America v. Enaam M. Arnaout,
Governments Evidentiary Proffer Supporting the Admissibility of Co-Conspirator Statements
, before Hon. Suzanne B. Conlon

Named military chief

In 1996, al-Qaeda's military chief

Abu Ubaidah al-Banshiri Abu Ubaidah al-Banshiri ( ar, أبو عبيدة البنشيري; May 1950 – 23 May 1996) was the ''nom de guerre''Lake Victoria, and Atef was chosen to succeed him. He drew up a plan summarizing the positive qualities of

leaders, and showed his "nuanced understanding" that the United States had energy interests in the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asia ...

which would lead them to want an oil pipeline built through Afghanistan in the near future. In 1998, a number of militants began to speak openly of their disdain for Atef, leading bin Laden to convene a meeting at which he spoke at length about

Abu Bakr Abu Bakr Abdallah ibn Uthman Abi Quhafa (; – 23 August 634) was the senior companion and was, through his daughter Aisha, a father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, as well as the first caliph of Islam. He is known with the honor ...

's loyalty to

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mo ...

. Comparing Atef to the Prophet's lieutenant, he reminded those present that Atef "knew of Jihad before most of you were even born", and warned them that he didn't want to hear any more "negative talk" about Atef.Ressa, Maria. "Seeds of Terror", 2003. Atef was allegedly sent into Somalia at least twice to meet with tribal leaders, once having to escape aboard a small Cessna aircraft used for transporting

khat Khat or qat ( ''ch’at''; Oromo: ''Jimaa'', so, qaad, khaad, khat or chat, ar, القات ''al-qāt'') is a flowering plant native to eastern and southern Africa. Khat contains the alkaloid cathinone, a stimulant, which is said to cause e ...

.Benjamin, Daniel & Steven Simon. "The Age of Sacred Terror", 2002 Years later, a

material witness In American criminal law, a material witness is a person with information alleged to be material concerning a criminal proceeding. The authority to detain material witnesses dates to the First Judiciary Act of 1789, but the Bail Reform Act of ...

told American authorities that he flew Atef and four others from an al-Qaeda compound in the Sudan, to

Nairobi, Kenya Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper h ...

to train Somali fighters. This led the United States to accuse him of training the militants who attacked their troops in the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu.

1998 embassy bombings

On May 7, 1998, Atef faxed bin Laden a fatwa signed by Afghan scholars on May 7, which said that attacks against American civilians could be justified. Three months later, al-Qaeda carried out the

1998 U.S. embassy bombings The 1998 United States embassy bombings were attacks that occurred on August 7, 1998. More than 200 people were killed in nearly simultaneous truck bomb explosions in two East African cities, one at the United States Embassy in Dar es Salaam ...

, leading to Atef's indictment as having been involved in the preparation of the attack.Dawoud, Khaled.

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

Atef al-Masry
November 19, 2001 Following the American reprisal bombings, Atef frisked journalists looking to meet bin Laden. On November 4, an arrest warrant was issued in the United States for Atef.USA v. Muhammad Atef, Southern District of New York District Court, November 24, 1998 Atef also began speaking to

Hambali Riduan Isamuddin also transliterated as Riduan Isamudin, Riduan Isomuddin, and Riduan Isomudin, better known by the '' nom de guerre'' Hambali, born as Encep Nurjaman (April 4, 1964) is the former military leader of the Indonesian terrorist org ...

in Singapore, as the Indonesian-based militant sought al-Qaeda's financing for

Jemaah Islamiyah Jemaah Islamiyah ( ar, الجماعة الإسلامية, ''al-Jamāʿah al-Islāmiyyah'', meaning "Islamic Congregation", frequently abbreviated JI) is a Southeast Asian militant extremist Islamist terrorist group based in Indonesia, which i ...

operations. National Commission on Terrorist Attacks, 9/11 Commission, p. 151 In turn, when Atef informed Hambali of al-Qaeda's need for a new biological engineer, the latter sent Yazid Sufaat to al-Zawahiri.

Planning of further militant activity

In the 1999

Returnees from Albania The case of the Returnees from Albania was a massive criminal trial in an Egyptian military court from February to April 1999. The trial is one of the principal sources of information about Sunni terrorist groups in the 1990s, especially al-Gama'a ...

, he was tried ''in absentia'' by an Egyptian court which sentenced him to seven years' imprisonment for his associated with the EIJ. That year, he met repeatedly with bin Laden and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed at the Al-Matar complex to discuss possible targets for the 9/11 attacks. It was accepted that Atef was the one responsible for organizing the hijackers for the attacks. Near the end of the year, he met with

Ramzi bin al-Shibh Ramzi Mohammed Abdullah bin al-Shibh ( ar, رمزي محمد عبدالله بن الشيبة; also transliterated as bin al-Shaibah; born 1 May 1972Mohamed Atta Mohamed Mohamed el-Amir Awad el-Sayed Atta ( ; ar, محمد محمد الأمير عوض السيد عطا ; September 1, 1968 – September 11, 2001) was an Egyptian hijacker and the ringleader of the September 11 attacks in 2001 in which f ...

and

Ziad Jarrah Ziad Samir Jarrah ( ar, زياد سمير جراح, '; May 11, 1975 – September 11, 2001) was a Lebanese terrorist and one of the perpetrators of the September 11 attacks. He was the hijacker-pilot of United Airlines Flight 93, crashing the pl ...

and explained they would be undertaking a highly secret operation, in cooperation with

Nawaf al-Hazmi ) , birth_place = Mecca, Saudi Arabia , death_date = , death_place = Arlington County, Virginia, U.S. , death_cause = Plane crash , nationality = Saudi Arabian , relatives = Salem al-Hazmi (brothe ...

whom he named as ''Rabia al-Makki''. National Commission on Terrorist Attacks, 9/11 Commission, p. 166 Following the 2000

USS Cole bombing The USS ''Cole'' bombing was a suicide attack by the terrorist group al-Qaeda against , a guided missile destroyer of the United States Navy, on 12 October 2000, while she was being refueled in Yemen's Aden harbor. Seventeen U.S. Navy sail ...

, Atef was moved to Kandahar, Zawahiri to Kabul, and bin Laden fled to Kabul, later joining Atef when he realised no American reprisal attacks were forthcoming. Whenever al-Qaeda organised games of

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

, Atef and bin Laden were forced to be on separate teams since they were both tall and skilled. In January 2001, in

Kandahar Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118. It is the c ...

, Atef's daughter married bin Laden's 17-year-old son Mohammed; the wedding guests included Osama's mother, al-Jazeera journalist Ahmad Zaidan, a "few" Taliban party members, and about 400 others. Osama recited poetry about the USS Cole bombing, but was upset with his delivery and tried having Zaidan re-record the section before deciding he preferred the earlier version. That year,

Mullah Omar Mullah Muhammad Omar (; –April 2013) was an Afghan Islamic revolutionary who founded the Taliban and served as the supreme leader of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. Born into a religious family of Kandahar, Omar was educated at local '' ma ...

is said to have argued that bin Laden should not draw further reprisals against Afghanistan by striking the United States again. This led to a schism among al-Qaeda leadership, where Atef sided with bin Laden, while leaders like Saif al Adel sided with Omar. He is believed to have given José Padilla money to travel back to Egypt from Afghanistan, to visit his wife. The two then formed a working relationship. He also gave

Ramzi bin al-Shibh Ramzi Mohammed Abdullah bin al-Shibh ( ar, رمزي محمد عبدالله بن الشيبة; also transliterated as bin al-Shaibah; born 1 May 1972Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

to meet with Atta. When

David Hicks David Matthew Hicks (born 7 August 1975) is an Australian who attended al-Qaeda's Al Farouq training camp in Afghanistan, and met with Osama bin Laden during 2001. He was then detained by the United States in Guantanamo Bay detention camp fro ...

completed his training at al-Farouq, Atef interviewed him about his achievements and asked about the travel habits of Australians, before agreeing to suggest he be moved to the Tarnak Farms training camp. Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, and still a fugitive from his U.S. indictment in the 1998 Embassy bombings, Atef appeared on the initial list of the FBI's top 22 Most Wanted Terrorists, which was released to the public by President Bush on October 10, 2001. Debka.com has suggested that Atef led an "elite unit" of militants who captured and killed rival warlord Abdul Haq in October 2001. In early November 2001, the

government announced they were bestowing official Afghan

citizenship Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

on him, as well as bin Laden, Zawahiri, Saif al-Adel, and Shaykh

Asim Abdulrahman The son of Omar Abdur Rahman, Asim Abdulrahman was described as "among the closest" of Osama bin Laden's followers in the days following the September 11th attacks in 2001. Under the kunya ''Abu Asim'', he was believed to lead an Egyptian militan ...

. Described as a "devout" and "very quiet man", Atef was one of the few al-Qaeda leaders to not make public video statements. He is alleged to have written a 180-page manual entitled "Military Studies in the Holy Struggle against Tyrants", and directed

s himself.Nasrawi, Salah.

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago ...

, "Key bin Laden aide wrote terror manual", November 17, 2001

Death

Atef was killed, along with his guard Abu Ali al-Yafi'i and six others,

World News Connection World News Connection was a compilation of current international news translated into the English language. The United States Department of Commerce National Technical Information Service compiled and distributed it from non-U.S. media sources, usu ...

Al-Qa'ida member recalls US bombardment, accuses Taliban of betrayal
, October 29, 2003 in a

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

airstrike on his home near Kabul during the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan at some time during November 14–16, 2001. American intelligence intercepted communications from those digging through the rubble of Atef's home, leading them to believe they had been successful in killing him. According to the

Combating Terrorism Center The Combating Terrorism Center is an academic institution at the United States Military Academy (USMA) in West Point, New York that provides education, research and policy analysis in the specialty areas of terrorism, counterterrorism, homelan ...

he was killed in a strike on an "al Qa'ida safehouse". Reports said that American

bomber aircraft A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped from an airc ...

had destroyed the house while

MQ-1 Predator The General Atomics MQ-1 Predator (often referred to as the predator drone) is an American remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) built by General Atomics that was used primarily by the United States Air Force (USAF) and Central Intelligence Agency ...

UAV An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controlle ...

s had destroyed vehicles parked outside the house. Donald Rumsfeld was initially cautious and indicated only that reports of Atef's death "seem authoritative". His death was confirmed when the ambassador of the

, Abd Al-Salam Dhaif, said three days later, "Abu Hafs al-Masri died from injuries he suffered after US warplanes bombed his house near Kabul." When American forces sifted through the rubble of his house, they found a number of videocassettes, including five that carried

martyrdom A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

messages from

Abderraouf Jdey Abderraouf bin Habib bin Yousef Jdey ( ar, عبد الرؤوف جدي, Abd ar-Rawūf Jday) (also known as Farouk al-Tunisi and Al-Rauf Al-Jiddi) (born May 30, 1965) is a Canadian citizen,Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Summary of the Sec ...

Ramzi bin al-Shibh Ramzi Mohammed Abdullah bin al-Shibh ( ar, رمزي محمد عبدالله بن الشيبة; also transliterated as bin al-Shaibah; born 1 May 1972Muhammad Sa'id Ali Hasan, Abd Al-Rahim, and Khalid Ibn Muhammad Al-Juhani. Another videocassette included Hashim Abas casing American institutions in Singapore for possible attack by

in 1999, but was not turned over to Singapore authorities until December 14. It showed a bus station where American military personnel departed for their base, a temple adjoining American military barracks, a park where off-duty soldiers gathered and the Eagle's Club restaurant owned by the American government for its local workers. ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' reporter Alan Cullison purchased two computers that had been looted from the home on the black market, and noted that while Atef's computer had relatively few files, the other computer appears to have belonged to Ayman al-Zawahiri and held nearly a thousand files, including some of importance. On November 8, bin Laden delivered a joint eulogy for Atef and Jummah Khan Namangani. Following his death, it was rumored that Saif al-Adl would take over his position as Military Chief of al-Qaeda. Under interrogation, a number of suspected militants including Ibn Shaykh al-Libi later invented fictitious ties from Atef to other uninvolved entities to distract American attention from their true colleagues. Al-Libi told interrogators that Atef had sent an emissary named Abu Abdullah to

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

to obtain

chemical A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent elements by physical separation methods, i.e., w ...

and

biological warfare Biological warfare, also known as germ warfare, is the use of biological toxins or infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, insects, and fungi with the intent to kill, harm or incapacitate humans, animals or plants as an act of war. ...

training for two al-Qaeda members in December 2000. This led the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

to release a paper tying al-Qaeda to Iraq in January 2003, and justifying the invasion two months later, which arguably relieved some of the pressure on militants in Afghanistan. Parry, Robert. Consortium News
"How Bush's torture helped al-Qaeda"
April 23, 2009 Atef appeared in a video released in September 2006 that showed the planning of the September 11 attacks. Atef has been named as a conspirator in the conspiracy charges against several of the

Guantanamo captive The Guantanamo Bay detention camp ( es, Centro de detención de la bahía de Guantánamo) is a United States military prison located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, also referred to as Guantánamo, GTMO, and Gitmo (), on the coast of Guant ...

s. In March 2002, Bosnian security forces raided a

Benevolence International Foundation The Benevolence International Foundation (Benevolence International Fund in Canada, Bosanska Idealna Futura in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia) (BIF) was a purported nonprofit charitable trust based in Saudi Arabia. It was determined to be a front ...

office in

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see names in other languages'') is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo metropolitan area including Sarajevo ...

and seized a computer which contained a number of documents suggesting a degree of complicity with al-Qaeda, including a letter to Atef from

Enaam Arnaout Enaam M. Arnaout ( Kunya: ''Abu Mahmoud'';Fitzgerald, Patrick J. United States of America v. Enaam M. Arnaout,Governments Evidentiary Proffer Supporting the Admissibility of Co-Conspirator Statements, before Hon. Suzanne B. Conlon born 1962) is a S ...

stating that "the organization loaned us a howitzer cannon, and it must be returned so that it can be transferred to Kabul".Shay, Shaul. ''Islamic Terror in the Balkans'', 2008. p. 55

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Atef, Mohammed 1944 births 2001 deaths People from Monufia Governorate Egyptian al-Qaeda members Egyptian Islamic Jihad Egyptian mass murderers Al-Qaeda founders FBI Most Wanted Terrorists Deaths by United States drone strikes in Afghanistan Assassinated al-Qaeda leaders Individuals designated as terrorists by the United States government Egyptian expatriates in Pakistan