Pentagon releases photograph of al-Masri



The Department of Defense has released a photograph of Abu Ayyub al-Masri, an Egyptian now leading al Qaeda in Iraq following the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi last week. Al-Masri, who is also known as Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, is believed to be operating out of Baghdad. According to Major-General William Caldwell, al-Masri joined Islamic Jihad in 1982, first met Zarqawi at the al-Farooq training camp in Afghanistan in 1999, and eventually became an explosives expert.

Following the fall of the Taliban in late 2001, al-Masri came to Iraq for sanctuary and established a base of operations in Baghdad, to facilitate Zarqawi's branch of al Qaeda in northeast Iraq. Information recovered in various raids have pointed towards al-Masri's high-level involvement with al Qaeda in Iraq, and the Egyptian currently has a $ 50,000 reward on his head.

The appointment of al-Masri is essentially a consolidation of power by the original al Qaeda leadership of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, who appeared at times to have a conflicted relationship with Zarqawi before his death. Former CIA analyst Michael Schueur believes that al-Masri is Bin Laden's personel choice.
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