| Importance | High |
 | Affiliation | Al-Qaeda2 |
| Role | Second-in-Command2 |
| Supervisor | Osama bin Laden2 |
| Affiliation | Al-Qaeda majlis al shura2 |
 | Nationality | Iraqi1 |
| Gender | Male |
| History | Veteran of Afghanistan-Soviet civil war (1980-1989) |
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| Narrative and Notes |
|---|
| |
| Possible | Abu Ayoub al-Iraqi is one of the early al-Qaeda organizers who does not seem to be important to counterterrorism officials today. His status is unknown.
According to Jamal al-Fadl, Abu Ayoub al-Iraqi first proposed the concept of the group that eventually became al-Qaeda during a meeting in Khost, Afghanistan in 1989. He wanted to carry the jihad started in Afghanistan around the world.
Although Al-Fadl called Abu Ayoub the "emir" of al-Qaeda, he says later Abu Ayoub is second to Osama bin Laden.
Abu Ayoub was replaced by Abu Ubaidah al-Banshiri as emir, apparently sometime before 1991, as L'Houssaine Kherchtou described Abu Ubaidah as al-Qaeda's second-in-command at that time.2,3 |
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| Sources |
|---|
| 1 Presumed from name. |
| 2 Jamal al-Fadl testimony, United States vs. Osama bin Laden et al, trial transcript, Day 2, Feb. 6, 2001. |
| 3 L'Houssaine Kherchtou testimony, United States vs. Osama bin Laden et. al., trial transcript, Day 8, Feb. 21, 2001. |
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| Key to bullets |
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| High confidence |
| Some confidence |
 Low confidence |
 No confidence |
| Page maintained by John Lumpkin
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| Click here for a disclaimer and detailed explanation of the confidence ratings. |
