Mohammed Showqi Al-Islambouli () (born January 21, 1957) is an Egyptian militant leader in

al-Qa'ida {{Infobox war faction , name = Al-Qaeda , native_name = {{Script, Arabic, القاعدة , native_name_lang = ar , war = {{Collapsible list , title={{Nbsp , {{Plainlist, * War on Terror * Afghanistan conf ...

. A prominent figure in Islamic militancy, he organized early Egyptian mujahideen networks during the Soviet-Afghan War. After establishing weapon and personnel smuggling networks through Pakistan in the 1980s, he held leadership positions in various militant organizations including

al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya (, "Islamic Group") is an Egyptian Sunni Islamist movement, and is considered a terrorism, terrorist organization by the United Kingdom and the European Union, but was removed from the United States list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations i ...

. Following a brief return to Egypt in 2011 and subsequent release from detention in 2012, he emerged as the leader of the

Khorasan Group The Khorasan group, sometimes known simply as Khorasan, was an alleged group of senior al-Qaeda members operating in Syria. The group was reported to consist of a small number of fighters who are all on terrorist watchlists, and coordinated wit ...

, an al-Qaeda affiliate operating during the Syrian Civil War alongside the

Nusra Front Al-Nusra Front or Jabhat al-Nusra or Jabhat Nusrat Ahl al-Sham, also known as Front for the Conquest of the Levant, and also later known as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham was a Salafi-jihadist organization that fought against Ba'athist regime forces ...

. Mohammed is the younger brother of Khalid al-Islambouli, who assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981

Militancy

Mohammed Showqi Al-Islambouli was born on January 21, 1957, in Mina, Egypt. He is the younger brother of Khalid al-Islambouli, who assassinated Egyptian President

Anwar Sadat Muhammad Anwar es-Sadat (25 December 1918 – 6 October 1981) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the third president of Egypt, from 15 October 1970 until Assassination of Anwar Sadat, his assassination by fundame ...

in 1981. Islambouli organised the first teams of Egyptian

mujahideen ''Mujahideen'', or ''Mujahidin'' (), is the plural form of ''mujahid'' (), an Arabic term that broadly refers to people who engage in ''jihad'' (), interpreted in a jurisprudence of Islam as the fight on behalf of God, religion or the commun ...

who joined the

Afghan Arabs Afghan Arabs (; ; ) were the Arab Muslims who immigrated to Afghanistan and joined the Afghan mujahideen during the Soviet–Afghan War. The term does not refer to the history of Arabs in Afghanistan before the 1970s. Despite being referred t ...

after the

Soviet invasion of Afghanistan The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until it dissolved in 1991. During its existence, it was the largest country by are ...

. By 1983, he had established a network smuggling people and weapons through

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

and Egypt that still functioned by the dawn of the War on Terror in 2001. In late May 1995, Hassan al-Turabi met with

al-Qaida , image = Flag of Jihad.svg , caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions , founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden , leaders = {{Plainlist, * Osama bin Lad ...

deputy leader

Ayman al-Zawahiri Ayman Mohammed Rabie al-Zawahiri (; 19 June 195131 July 2022) was an Egyptian-born pan-Islamism, pan-Islamist militant and physician who served as the second general emir of al-Qaeda from June 2011 until Killing of Ayman al-Zawahiri, his dea ...

to discuss the future of the

Vanguards of Conquest The Vanguards of Conquest (''Talaa'al al-Fateh'') is a terrorist organization that was originally founded in 1993 as a branch of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad operating in Somalia but became a separate faction that eventually folded back into the grou ...

; now to operate solely out of Egypt. al-Zawahiri and

Mustafa Hamza Mustafa Hamza (born 1956) is an Egyptian commander of the military branch of the al-Jama'a al-Islamiyya. He was sentenced to death in absentia by an Egyptian court in the Returnees from Afghanistan case. It is believed he took part in the 1981 as ...

organised a meeting in

Ferney-Voltaire Ferney-Voltaire () is a commune in the Ain department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of eastern France. It lies between the Jura Mountains and the Swiss border; it forms part of the metropolitan area of Geneva. It is named for Voltaire, ...

on the French-Swiss border, attended by a colleague of

Tal'at Fu'ad Qasim Tal'at Fu'ad Qasim (also spelled Qassim, ; born Nag Hammadi Qena Governorate), also known as Abu Talal al-Qasimi () (possibly executed in 1995), was the leader of Egypt's militant al-Jama'a al-Islamiyya (Gama'a Islamiyya) organization until he ob ...

, an associate of Showky Al-Islambouli and the son of Said Ramadan. The group decided to focus their efforts on

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; ,) is the capital city of Ethiopia, as well as the regional state of Oromia. With an estimated population of 2,739,551 inhabitants as of the 2007 census, it is the largest city in the country and the List of cities in Africa b ...

, and that their veteran members would come together under the leadership of Islambouli. Al-Islambouli came close to assassinating the Egyptian President

Hosni Mubarak Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak (; 4 May 1928 – 25 February 2020) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011 and the 41st Prime Minister of Egypt, prime minister from 1981 to ...

on 22 June 1995 on the way from

Addis Ababa International Airport Addis Ababa Bole International Airport is an international airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It is in the Bole district, southeast of the city centre and north of Bishoftu. The airport was formerly known as ''Haile Selassie I International ...

to an African summit in the city. Al-Islambouli and his associates opened fire on the armor-plated limousine, destroying most of the escort vehicles. However, Mubarak was saved by the skills of his chauffeur, who U-turned the damaged limousine and raced back to the airport where the presidential plane was waiting with running engines.
Mubarak 1995 assassination attempt Over the winter of 1996–97, Al-Islambouli was commanding a team of

members, and allocated them to travel to Somalia to bolster the forces of the Islamic Liberation Party. Al-Islambouli returned to Egypt in May 2011. He was arrested upon arrival at

Cairo International Airport Cairo International Airport (; ''Maṭār El Qāhira El Dawli'') is the principal international airport of Cairo and the largest and busiest airport in Egypt. It serves as the primary hub for Egyptair and Nile Air as well as several other a ...

and was retried on terrorism charges. An Egyptian military court in Cairo ordered his release on health grounds in February 2012.

Syria

By October 2014, Al-Islambouli was reported to be leading the

(KG), a group of 40 to 60 key al-Qaida members who came to Syria during the Syria Civil War along with 100 support staff. KG embedded with the

, which provided KG with logistical support and sanctuary.

References

Egyptian Islamists Living people 1957 births {{Egypt-bio-stub