Abu Yahya al-Libi ( ar, أبو يحيى الليبي, ; January 1, 1963, Marzaq – June 4, 2012), born Mohamed Hassan Qaid, was a terrorist and leading high-ranking official within al-Qaeda, and an alleged member of the

Libyan Islamic Fighting Group The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), also known as ''Al-Jama'a al-Islamiyyah al-Muqatilah bi-Libya'' ( ar, الجماعة الإسلامية المقاتلة بليبيا), was an armed Islamist group. Militants participated in the 2011 Lib ...

.New York Times
Rising Leader for Next Phase of Al Qaeda’s War
April 4, 2008Scheuer, Michael F
Part1
an
Part 2
/ref> He is believed to have been able to speak

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Pashto Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official langua ...

and

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

and to have used the aliases Hasan Qaiid (Hasan Qayad or Hassan Qayid), Yunis al-Sahrawi,

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

Key 'al-Qaeda militant' surfaces
/ref> and Hassan Qaed al-Far. Al-Libi was a citizen of

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...

, who was held in

extrajudicial detention Administrative detention is arrest and detention of individuals by the state without trial. A number of jurisdictions claim that it is done for security reasons. Many countries claim to use administrative detention as a means to combat terrorism ...

in the Bagram interim detention facility. At that time, American

counter-terrorism Counterterrorism (also spelled counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, incorporates the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, business, and intelligence agencies use to combat or ...

analysts asserted that al-Libi was a member of al Qaeda. Al-Libi was one of several high-profile Bagram captives who escaped on the night of July 10, 2005. Jarret Brachman, a former analyst for the

Central Intelligence Agency 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, ...

(CIA), states of al-Libi:

He’s a warrior. He’s a poet. He’s a scholar. He’s a pundit. He’s a military commander. And he’s a very charismatic, young, brash rising star within Al-Qaeda, and I think he has become the heir apparent to Osama bin Laden in terms of taking over the entire global jihadist movement.

Scheuer states of him that he "in the last year or so emerged as al-Qaeda's theological hardliner" and an "insurgent-theologian". He was also an official on al-Qaeda's Shariah Committee. He was the target of a US

drone strike Drone warfare is a form of aerial warfare using unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAV) or weaponized commercial unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). The United States, United Kingdom, Israel, China, South Korea, Iran, Italy, France, India, Pakist ...

on June 4, 2012, in Mir Ali. His death was later confirmed by the al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in a video released in September 2012 to coincide with the 9/11 anniversary.

Background

The

nisba The Arabic language, Arabic word nisba (; also transcribed as ''nisbah'' or ''nisbat'') may refer to: * Arabic nouns and adjectives#Nisba, Nisba, a suffix used to form adjectives in Arabic grammar, or the adjective resulting from this formation **c ...

patronymic A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. Patronymics are still in use, including mandatory use, in many countries worldwide, alt ...

of "al-Libi" suffixed to his name indicates that the bearer or his ancestors were from Libya. Al-Libi was born 1963, but

Michael Scheuer Michael F. Scheuer (pronounced "SHOY-er"), (born 1952) is an American former intelligence officer for the Central Intelligence Agency, blogger, author, commentator and former adjunct professor at Georgetown University's Center for Peace and Sec ...

stated there is little "information available about al-Libi beyond his record as an insurgent","Interview with Abu Yahya al-Libi," http://www.tajdeed.org, June 21, 2006, referenced in Scheuer, Michael F
Part1
an
Part 2
/ref> His elder brother, Abd al-Wahhab Muhammad Qaid (

Abu Idris al-Libi Abdel Wahab Mohamed Qaid (), alias Abu Idris al-Libi is a Libyan politician and former militia leader. Since 2012, he has been a member of the Libyan Parliament (General National Congress) and the head of the National Border Guard for southern Lib ...

) is one of the most senior members of the

and currently the head of the National Border Guard for southern Libya. Al-Libi went to Afghanistan in the early 1990s and whilst bin Laden was an engineer and al-Zwahiri a doctor, al-Libi is said to have been an Islamic scholar who "spent two years in Africa studying Islam". It is believed that after going to Afghanistan in the 1990s, he "was sent back to northern Africa to study Islam in Mauritania." As detailed below, he was imprisoned by both Pakistani and U.S. authorities. He claimed to have studied Islamic law, history and jurisprudence "for years among excellent and great scholars" who were in the field with al-Qaeda and other Islamist insurgent groups. It is stated that "When he returned two years later" rom his Islamic studies in Mauritania, Africa "Afghanistan was no longer a battleground for militant Libyans, but rather a haven: the Taliban controlled most of the country. Mr. Libi's training in warfare was minimal, and his early work as a preacher rarely touched on militant action, according to the Libyan man who said he had met Mr. Libi in Afghanistan, and who spoke on condition of anonymity out of security concerns. "He started to visit training camps and talk about Shariah," or Islamic law, this man said in a telephone interview, about "morals, etiquette, how to act."

Capture and escape

Al-Libi was a citizen of

, who was captured by

ISAF ' ps, کمک او همکاري ' , allies = Afghanistan , opponents = Taliban Al-Qaeda , commander1 = , commander1_label = Commander , commander2 = , commander2_label = , commander3 = , command ...

forces in the

Invasion of Afghanistan In late 2001, the United States and its close allies invaded Afghanistan and toppled the Taliban government. The invasion's aims were to dismantle al-Qaeda, which had executed the September 11 attacks, and to deny it a safe base of operations ...

, a year after 9/11 (Pakistani authorities and turned over to American authorities, who eventually put him in the Bagram prison.) and was held in

in the Bagram interim detention facility. American

analysts assert that al-Libi was a member of al Qaeda. Al-Libi was one of several high-profile Bagram captives who escaped on the night of July 10, 2005. Early reports on the 2005 escape from Bagram Airbase included al-Libi's name as one of the escapees. Posters around the airbase identified "the Libyan, Mohammad Hassan Abu Bakar" as one of the escapees, but did not mention high-ranking al-Qaeda leader

Omar al-Faruq Omar al-Faruq ( ar, عمر الفاروق; 1969 – 25 September 2006), also spelled or al-Farouq or al-Farooq, born Mahmoud Ahmad Mohammed Ahmad, was an islamic militant with high profile connections with Al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah in Sou ...

as one of the escapees. Later reports removed the Libyan from the list of escapes and inserted al-Faruq. On November 4, 2005, al-Libi appeared in a Ramadan video on the Arabic television station al-Arabiya, and mentioned that he had escaped from Bagram. He was re-listed as an escapee, and as of October 2006 was listed among the

Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philipp ...

's "

Most Wanted Most Wanted may refer to: Law enforcement A most wanted list used by a law enforcement agency to alert the public, such as: *FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives *FBI Most Wanted Terrorists *ICE Most Wanted *List of Mexico's 37 most-wanted drug lords *Lis ...

", and a Terrorist Recognition Card repeated the earlier claim that he was indeed among the four escapees. In addition, the name off the Airbase posters was added as an "alias".

Activities

Al-Libi produced a series of propaganda videos. On May 30, 2007, a 45-minute video, starring al-Libi came to light. On June 22, 2008, Abu Yahia Al Libi released a 19-minute video urging

Somalis The Somalis ( so, Soomaalida 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒆𐒖, ar, صوماليون) are an ethnic group native to the Horn of Africa who share a common ancestry, culture and history. The Lowland East Cushitic Somali language is the shared ...

to resist United Nations forces in

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

. Bryant Neal Vinas, an American, took part in 2008 with other masked fighters in an al-Qaeda propaganda video featuring al Libi. Vinas was captured in November 2008, and pleaded guilty in January to conspiracy to murder and to receiving military training from Al Qaeda murder and providing them with material support. Al-Libi also appeared in a July 2009 video from al-Sahab entitled, "Swat: Victory or Martyrdom," about the Pakistani military's campaign against Pashtun militias and jihadi groups in the Swat Valley. On March 12, 2011, al-Libi urged his countrymen to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi's regime and establish Islamic rule, expanding the terror network's attempts to capitalize on the wave of unrest sweeping the region. That was put on in a video posted on a militant website. TIP's "Islamic Turkistan" magazine in its 5th edition published an article by Al Qaeda member Abu Yayha al Libi who wrote in support of "Turkistan". Al-Qaeda member Abu Yahya al-Libi spoke in support of "Jihad" in "East Turkestan" against China.

Video releases

Previous reports of death

It was reported by Pakistani sources on December 11, 2009, that Abu Yahya al-Libi was killed in a U.S Drone strike in Pakistan; however, later reports identified the man killed as

Saleh al-Somali Saleh al-Somali, born Abdirizaq Abdi Saleh, was described as being an al-Qaeda leader and the group's head of external operations. He was killed by a missile fired from an unmanned predator drone on December 8, 2009. The missile strike was o ...

Death

On June 5, 2012, U.S. officials confirmed that Libi was among 15 militants killed the previous day when a US drone fired four missiles at a compound in Mir Ali, North Waziristan. Additionally, The White House later confirmed it. His death was later confirmed by al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in a video released in September 2012 to coincide with the 9/11 anniversary.

References

External links

Rising Leader for Next Phase of Al Qaeda's War
''

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 ...

'' April 4, 2008
Global Security profileIslamicAwakening on Abu Yahya al-LibiSite Institute linksThe death of al-Libi

The News International ''The News International'', published in broadsheet size, is one of the largest English language newspapers in Pakistan. It is published daily from Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi/Islamabad. An overseas edition is published from London that cater ...

June 9, 2012 {{DEFAULTSORT:Libi, Abu Yahya Al- 1963 births 2012 deaths Libyan extrajudicial prisoners of the United States Libyan al-Qaeda members Bagram Theater Internment Facility detainees Al-Qaeda propagandists Deaths by United States drone strikes in Pakistan Assassinated al-Qaeda members Libyan expatriates in Pakistan Libyan Islamists Libyan Muslims Libyan propagandists