Abu Ubaidah al-Masri (; ar, ابو عبيده المصري; died December 2007) was an al-Qaeda operative in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

. Al-Masri was implicated in the

2006 Transatlantic Aircraft Plot The 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot was a terrorist plot to detonate liquid explosives, carried aboard airliners travelling from the United Kingdom to the United States and Canada, disguised as soft drinks. The plot was discovered by British ...

, which was to be carried out by a terrorist cell operating in London, but which was orchestrated by al-Qaeda's central leadership.

Biography

Al-Masri was

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

ian (the epithet literally means 'the Egyptian') but he received combat experience, and terrorist and insurgent training in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

, Bosnia and Chechnya. Al-Masri was thought to be a provincial al-Qaeda commander in Afghanistan, but according to ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', " l-Masriemerged as one of Al Qaeda's senior operatives after the death of Abu Hamza Rabia, another Egyptian who was killed by a missile strike in Pakistan in 2005." Al-Masri lived in Germany before going to Afghanistan to join the Mujahadeen. After Afghanistan, he returned to Germany to begin building a network in Europe. In 2006, two attempts were made by coalition forces to kill him.

Death

According to U.S. government counterterrorism sources, al-Masri is believed to have died in December 2007, in Pakistan's tribal region, probably due to hepatitis. Al-Masri was between 40 and 50 years old.

References

"A look inside Al Qaeda"
by Sebastian Rotella, April 2, 2008, ''The Los Angeles Times,'' retrieved April 9, 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Masri, Abu Ubaidah al- Al-Qaeda leaders Egyptian al-Qaeda members Year of birth missing 2007 deaths Deaths from hepatitis Egyptian expatriates in Pakistan