Midhat Mursi

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Midhat Mursi (also known as Abu Khabab al-Masri or Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar) was born April 29, 1953 in Egypt. He is an alleged top bomb maker for al-Qaeda, and is considered to be in Osama bin-Laden's inner circle. The United States has a $5 million bounty on his head. He is believed by U.S. authorities to have run the infamous Derunta training camp in Afghanistan where he is reported to have used dogs and other animals for his chemical experiments. He is also alleged to have written an explosives manual, and to have personally trained Richard Reid, the so-called "shoe bomber", as well as Zacarias Moussaoui. The manual is still in use by al-Qaeda operatives today.

[edit] Possible death

He is reported to have possibly been killed in the Damadola airstrike in Pakistan on January 13, 2006 along with several other al-Qaeda operatives.^[1][2] The target of the strike was Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda's number 2 man. Pakistani intelligence confirmed Mursi's death in the airstrike along with al-Zawahiri's alleged son-in-law, Abdul Rehman al-Maghribi.

[edit] Wrong photo

The CIA acknowledged on January 26, 2006 that they had been using a photo of Abu Hamza al-Masri in their wanted photo for Midhat Mursi, who shared the similar alias "Abu Khabab al Masri".^[3][4][5]

[edit] References

1. ^  WANTED: Midhat Mursi al-Sayid 'Umar - Up to $5 Million Reward. Rewards for Justice Program, US Department of State
2. ^  U.S. Strike Killed Al Qaeda Bomb Maker: Terror Big Also Trained 'Shoe Bomber,' Moussaoui, ABC, January 18, 2006
3. ^  Report: U.S. used wrong terrorist photo, United Press International, January 26, 2006
4. ^  Wrong Photo Posted Of Al-Qaida Fugitive: Web Site Now Uses Silhouette, NBC, January 26, 2006
5. ^  U.S. posts wrong photo of ‘al-Qaida operative’: After year and a half, wrong man's photo removed from wanted page, MSNBC, January 26, 2006