Saleh al-Oufi
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The Saudi Saleh Muhammad 'Awadullah al-'Alawi al-'Oufi (Arabic: صالح محمد عوض الله العلوي العوفي ) (d. 2005) was a member of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), and became the leader of that group when Abdel Aziz al-Muqrin was killed in June 2004. Al-Oufi in turn was killed in August 2005, in Madinah.[1] One other suspect with al-Oufi was killed, and one wounded and captured. In a simultaneous raid in Riyadh, four AQAP members were killed and one captured. These raids were made possible by the interception of mobile telephone transmissions.
During his 14 months as leader of AQAP, Al-Oufi wrote a few pieces for the al-Qaida online magazines Sawt al-Jihad and Mu'askar al-Battar, particularly about Iraq. A car bombing in Qatar, which killed one and wounded dozens, came two days after an instigation by al-Oufi (on a terrorist web forum) to attack "crusader" targets in the Gulf nations.[2]
Al-Oufi has been variously described as a former policeman and a former prison guard. According to AQAP, he participated in some way in the fighting in Afghanistan.
[edit] References
- ^ Al-Qaeda Chief in Kingdom Killed, Arab News, 19 August 2005; includes a photo of al-Oufi, originally from a Saudi wanted list
- ^ Small but not safe, Al-Ahram, 24 March 2005
