Sa'id Al Shihri
| “ | To our steadfast brethren in Somalia, take caution and prepare yourselves. Increase your strikes against the crusaders at sea and in Djibouti. | „ |
| ~ Sa'id Al-Shihri in a 2009 propaganda video. |
Sa'id Ali Jabir Al Khathim Al Shihri (1971 - 2013) was a Saudi Arabian militant and one of the founders and deputy leaders of AQAP (Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula).
Biography edit
Al-Shihri attended an Al-Qaeda training camp near Kabul in 2000, training there for two months. Following the September 11 attacks, Al-Shihri was placed on a watchlist because he was suspected of funding the escapes of Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Zakariya Essabar, Said Bahaji and other conspirators into Afghanistan. He was later arrested in December 2001 at the Afghanistan-Pakistan border while carrying supplies to a training camp, and was tried before a Combatant Status Review tribunal. The accusations were that:
- he was an "al Qaida travel facilitator", who funded other fighters, and guided them on how to cross the Iran-Afghan border;
- he was on a watch list because he was suspected of helping Saudis acquire false travel documents, for traveling to Afghanistan;
- he trained at the Libyan camp north of Kabul;
- he was instructed to assassinate someone, via a fatwa.
He was concluded to be an enemy combatant, and the tribunal recommended continued detention. He was later repatriated on 9 November 2007 and entered into a Saudi rehabilitation program. However, after his 2009 release from the program, Al-Shihri appeared in a video alongside Nasir al-Wuhayshi, Qasim al-Raymi and Mohamed Al Harbi announcing the foundation of AQAP. Soon after publication of the video, Al-Shihri claimed responsibility for the 2008 US embassy attack, during which 18 people were killed. Fox News and the controversial website Jihad Watch later accused Al-Shihri of the killings of Christian missionaries in Yemen.
On 22 January 2013, Al-Shihri was reported to have died after succumbing to serious injuries inflicted by a 2012 drone strike. It was later revealed in August 2014 by AQAP that he had survived the loss of his right eye, right ear and part of his skull in the 2012 drone strike, but had been killed by a second drone strike in 2013.