Abdel Aziz al-Muqrin
Encyclopedia
Abdel Aziz Issa Abdul-Mohsin Al-Muqrin (or Abd al-Aziz al-Moqrin or other transliteration
s) alias Abu Hajr (
ابو هاجر
) and Abu Hazim, (1971–2004), was the leader of the mujahedeen group al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
. He reportedly succeeded Yousif Salih Fahad Al-Ayeeri in this role, when the latter was killed in a shootout in May 2003. Al-Muqrin had trained with Osama bin Laden
's group in Afghanistan
.
Al-Muqrin lived in the Riyadh
's Al-Suwaidi
District, home to many Saudi extremists.
Al-Muqrin was born to middle class parents in Riyadh and was a high school dropout. He married at the age of 19 and had one daughter. He left his wife in about 1988 to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan and later fought in Bosnia-Herzegovina. In the 1990s he ran guns from Spain to Algeria. Most of his training occurred in extremist camps in Afghanistan.
By the end of the 1990s, he was arrested for extremist activities in Ethiopia and extradited to Saudi Arabia. In Saudi Arabia he served a two-year prison term in Jeddah. His prison sentence had been reduced after he memorized the Qur'an.
He was a skilled propagandist, using the Internet to recruit and deliver his message. Al-Muqrin told an Arabic website in 2003 that, “I have taken it upon myself and I have sworn to purge the Arabian Peninsula of the polytheists. We will fight the Crusaders and Jews in this country. They will not have any security until we evict them from the land of the Two Holy Places and until we evict them from the land of Palestine and the land of the Muslims, which they pillage and usurp from the east to the west.”
Mohsen Al-Awaji, an expert in extremism, said in media interviews in 2004 that Al-Muqrin was “shallow, very simple-minded,” adding that he “has no political brain. He’s got the weapon and no mind to control the weapon.”
Al-Muqrin was No. 1 on Saudi Arabia
's second official list of most wanted terrorists, which appeared in December 2003. In 2004 his faction claimed responsibility for a series of attacks against Westerners including the kidnapping and beheading of American contractor Paul Johnson
in Saudi Arabia. On the same day of the murder of Johnson, Saudi police commandos killed Al-Muqrin in a gun battle at a gas station in downtown Riyadh
along with several associates including:
Al-Muqrin was responsible for the May 29 attacks at Al-Khobar that left more than 20 people dead and several other operations.
The online magazine Al-Khansaa
claims to have been founded by al-Muqrin shortly before his death. In 2004, plans were discovered posted online under al-Muqrin's name containing the itinerary, routes of travel, and security personnel of Prince Nayef bin Abdel Aziz, and plans to assassinate him with RPGs.
Transliteration
Transliteration is a subset of the science of hermeneutics. It is a form of translation, and is the practice of converting a text from one script into another...
s) alias Abu Hajr (
ابو هاجر
) and Abu Hazim, (1971–2004), was the leader of the mujahedeen group al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is a militant Islamist organization, primarily active in Yemen and Saudi Arabia. It was named for al-Qaeda, and says it is subordinate to that group and its now-deceased leader Osama bin Laden, a Saudi citizen whose father was born in Yemen...
. He reportedly succeeded Yousif Salih Fahad Al-Ayeeri in this role, when the latter was killed in a shootout in May 2003. Al-Muqrin had trained with Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
's group in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
.
Al-Muqrin lived in the Riyadh
Riyadh
Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of Riyadh Province, and belongs to the historical regions of Najd and Al-Yamama. It is situated in the center of the Arabian Peninsula on a large plateau, and is home to 5,254,560 people, and the urban center of a...
's Al-Suwaidi
Al-Suwaidi
Al-Suwaidi is a district in southwestern Riyadh Province, Saudi Arabia on the western side of the Wadi Hanifa.As of 2005 more than 500,000 people lived in the area. John R...
District, home to many Saudi extremists.
Al-Muqrin was born to middle class parents in Riyadh and was a high school dropout. He married at the age of 19 and had one daughter. He left his wife in about 1988 to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan and later fought in Bosnia-Herzegovina. In the 1990s he ran guns from Spain to Algeria. Most of his training occurred in extremist camps in Afghanistan.
By the end of the 1990s, he was arrested for extremist activities in Ethiopia and extradited to Saudi Arabia. In Saudi Arabia he served a two-year prison term in Jeddah. His prison sentence had been reduced after he memorized the Qur'an.
He was a skilled propagandist, using the Internet to recruit and deliver his message. Al-Muqrin told an Arabic website in 2003 that, “I have taken it upon myself and I have sworn to purge the Arabian Peninsula of the polytheists. We will fight the Crusaders and Jews in this country. They will not have any security until we evict them from the land of the Two Holy Places and until we evict them from the land of Palestine and the land of the Muslims, which they pillage and usurp from the east to the west.”
Mohsen Al-Awaji, an expert in extremism, said in media interviews in 2004 that Al-Muqrin was “shallow, very simple-minded,” adding that he “has no political brain. He’s got the weapon and no mind to control the weapon.”
Al-Muqrin was No. 1 on Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
's second official list of most wanted terrorists, which appeared in December 2003. In 2004 his faction claimed responsibility for a series of attacks against Westerners including the kidnapping and beheading of American contractor Paul Johnson
Paul Marshall Johnson, Jr.
Paul Marshall Johnson, Jr. was an American helicopter engineer who lived in Saudi Arabia. He was a native of both Stafford and Eagleswood, New Jersey...
in Saudi Arabia. On the same day of the murder of Johnson, Saudi police commandos killed Al-Muqrin in a gun battle at a gas station in downtown Riyadh
Riyadh
Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of Riyadh Province, and belongs to the historical regions of Najd and Al-Yamama. It is situated in the center of the Arabian Peninsula on a large plateau, and is home to 5,254,560 people, and the urban center of a...
along with several associates including:
- Faisal Abdul-Rahman Abdullah al-Dakhil (who was also on the list),
- Turki bin Fuheid al-Muteiry a/k/a Fawaz al-NashimiFawaz al-NashimiFawaz bin Mohammed al-Nashimi , also known as Turki bin Fuheid al-Muteiry, was a member of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and was identified by the group as the 20th hijacker of the September 11th attacks. Born in Saudi Arabia, Nashimi participated in the 29 May 2004 Al-Khobar massacres and...
, and - Ibrahim bin Abdullah al-Dreiham.
Al-Muqrin was responsible for the May 29 attacks at Al-Khobar that left more than 20 people dead and several other operations.
The online magazine Al-Khansaa
Al-Khansaa (magazine)
Al-Khansaa is an online women's magazine launched in 2004 by a Saudi branch of al-Qaeda.The magazine claims to have been founded by Saudi leader Abd-al-Aziz al-Muqrin shortly before his death...
claims to have been founded by al-Muqrin shortly before his death. In 2004, plans were discovered posted online under al-Muqrin's name containing the itinerary, routes of travel, and security personnel of Prince Nayef bin Abdel Aziz, and plans to assassinate him with RPGs.