Abu Ayyub Al-Masri Iraqi terrorist. Country: Iraq

Biography of Abu Ayyub al-Masri

Abu Ayyub al-Masri was an Iraqi terrorist and leader of the Iraqi cell of Al-Qaeda. He took over leadership after the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi on June 7, 2006. Al-Masri was known for organizing bloody attacks in Iraq and was appointed leader on June 12, 2006.

According to US intelligence sources, al-Masri was born in 1965-1966 and joined the group "Egyptian Islamic Jihad" around 1982. It is believed that he was in close proximity to Osama bin Laden in Sudan in 1995 before moving to Pakistan. After receiving training in Afghanistan, he returned to Iraq in 2002. Prior to replacing the slain Zarqawi, he served as the head of intelligence for the group in North Africa and the Middle East.

In October 2006, Iraqi intelligence claimed that al-Masri had been killed, but these reports were not confirmed. On May 1, 2007, the Iraqi Ministry of Interior announced al-Masri's death, this time allegedly as a result of clashes between different factions of militants. However, the Iraqi authorities stated that they did not have possession of al-Masri's body. In February 2007, he was injured during a US special operation, and his assistant was killed. On May 9, 2008, there was information, later disproven, about his capture by US military near Mosul. On April 18, 2010, he was killed in a shootout. His successor as the third leader of the Iraqi cell of Al-Qaeda in mid-May 2010 was Moroccan Abu Suleiman al-Naser.