Mohammed Atef

Mohammed Atef (محمد عاطف; born Sobhi Abd Al Aziz Mohamed El Gohary Abu Sitta, also known as Abu Hafs al-Masri and al-Khabir; 1944 – November 2001) was the prominent military chief of al-Qaeda, and a deputy of Osama bin Laden, although Atef's role in the organization was not well known by intelligence agencies for years.

He attended two meetings from August 11 to 20 in 1988, along with bin Laden, al-Zawahiri, Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, Jamal al-Fadl, Wa'el Hamza Julaidan, and Mohammed Loay Bayazid and eight others, to discuss the founding of "al-Qaeda".

Bin Laden later sent a letter to Mohammed Loay Bayazid informing him that Atef and Abu Ubaidah al-Banshiri were to each be given 6,500 Saudi riyals monthly, the same as they had been given for their work in Maktab al-Khidamat.

Atef followed al-Qaeda to the Sudan in 1992 until the group was forced to leave, following the execution of the teenaged son of Ahmad Salama Mabruk, and Atef moved to Afghanistan.

This led the United States to accuse him of training the militants who attacked their troops in the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu.

In 1994, he refused to allow American double agent Ali Mohammed to know which name and passport he would be traveling under, expressing concerns that Mohammed could be working with the American authorities.

He traveled to Mombasa, Kenya, where he met with Mohammed Odeh and gave him money to purchase himself a 7-tonne trawler and start a fishing business.

While in Sudan, he allegedly conducted a study which resulted in him presenting al-Qaeda details on why aircraft hijackings were a poor idea as they were engineered to allow the negotiation of hostages in exchange for prisoners, rather than inflicting damage.

Another alleged study he carried out determined that the Afghan Arabs and Taliban could together topple the dictatorship of Pervez Musharraf in Pakistan, and the government of Iran.

In 1995, Atef gave Khalid Sheikh Mohammed details for a contact in Brazil.

When Mohammed returned to Afghanistan, he turned to Atef to set up a meeting with bin Laden in Tora Bora, at which he told the pair his plans for military attacks against the United States.

Prior to 1996, Abu Ubaidah al-Banshiri, Atef and Yaseen al-Iraqi aided Enaam Arnaout in purchasing AK-47s and mortar rounds from a Pashtun tribesman named Hajjji Ayoub, and they were subsequently delivered in large trucks to the Jawr and Jihad Wahl training camps.

In 1996, al-Qaeda's military chief Abu Ubaidah al-Banshiri drowned in a ferry accident on Lake Victoria, and Atef was chosen to succeed him.

He drew up a plan summarizing the positive qualities of Taliban leaders, and showed his "nuanced understanding" that the United States had energy interests in the Caspian Sea which would lead them to want an oil pipeline built through Afghanistan in the near future.

In 1998, a number of militants began to speak openly of their disdain for Atef, leading bin Laden to convene a meeting at which he spoke at length about Abu Bakr's loyalty to Muhammad.

Comparing Atef to the Prophet's lieutenant, he reminded those present that Atef "knew of Jihad before most of you were even born", and warned them that he didn't want to hear any more "negative talk" about Atef.

Atef was allegedly sent into Somalia at least twice to meet with tribal leaders, once having to escape aboard a small Cessna aircraft used for transporting khat.

Years later, a material witness told American authorities that he flew Atef and four others from an al-Qaeda compound in the Sudan, to Nairobi, Kenya to train Somali fighters.

On May 7, 1998, Atef faxed bin Laden a fatwa signed by Afghan scholars on May 7, which said that attacks against American civilians could be justified.

Three months later, al-Qaeda carried out the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings, leading to Atef's indictment as having been involved in the preparation of the attack.

Following the American reprisal bombings, Atef frisked journalists looking to meet bin Laden.

On November 4, an arrest warrant was issued in the United States for Atef.

Atef also began speaking to Hambali in Singapore, as the Indonesian-based militant sought al-Qaeda's financing for Jemaah Islamiyah operations.

In turn, when Atef informed Hambali of al-Qaeda's need for a new biological engineer, the latter sent Yazid Sufaat to al-Zawahiri.

In the 1999 Returnees from Albania, he was tried in absentia by an Egyptian court which sentenced him to seven years' imprisonment for his associated with the EIJ.

That year, he met repeatedly with bin Laden and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed at the Al-Matar complex to discuss possible targets for the 9/11 attacks.

It was accepted that Atef was the one responsible for organizing the hijackers for the attacks.

Near the end of the year, he met with Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Mohamed Atta and Ziad Jarrah and explained they would be undertaking a highly secret operation, in cooperation with Nawaf al-Hazmi whom he named as Rabia al-Makki.

Following the 2000 USS Cole bombing, Atef was moved to Kandahar, Zawahiri to Kabul, and bin Laden fled to Kabul, later joining Atef when he realised no American reprisal attacks were forthcoming.

Whenever al-Qaeda organised games of volleyball, Atef and bin Laden were forced to be on separate teams since they were both tall and skilled.

He was killed in a US airstrike in November 2001.

Atef served two years in the Egyptian Air Force and became an agricultural engineer.

He was also a police officer and a member of the group Egyptian Islamic Jihad before he moved to Afghanistan to repel the Soviet invasion, while operating from Peshawar.

He has been credited as having convinced Abdullah Azzam to abandon his life and devote himself to preaching jihad at this time.

Atef was sent to an Afghan training camp where he met Ayman al-Zawahiri, who later introduced him to Osama bin Laden.

In January 2001, in Kandahar, Atef's daughter married bin Laden's 17-year-old son Mohammed; the wedding guests included Osama's mother, al-Jazeera journalist Ahmad Zaidan, a "few" Taliban party members, and about 400 others.

Osama recited poetry about the USS Cole bombing, but was upset with his delivery and tried having Zaidan re-record the section before deciding he preferred the earlier version.

That year, Mullah Omar is said to have argued that bin Laden should not draw further reprisals against Afghanistan by striking the United States again.

This led to a schism among al-Qaeda leadership, where Atef sided with bin Laden, while leaders like Saif al Adel sided with Omar.

He is believed to have given José Padilla money to travel back to Egypt from Afghanistan, to visit his wife.