From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Abu Zubaydah (born 1973, Saudi Arabia) (also transliterated as Abu Zubaidah, Abu Zubeida, or Abu Zoubeida) was a high-ranking member of Al-Qaida and close associate of Osama bin Laden.
Zubaydah is known by over thirty-five aliases, including Zayn al-Abidin Muhammad Husain (Zein-al-Abideen Mohammed Hussein) and Abd Al-Hadi Al-Wahab.
He is also an associate of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi. During the 1990s, he was the chief recruiter of Al-Qaida.
He had been sentenced to death in absentia by a Jordanian court for his role in the failed 2000 bomb plot in Jordan. He was also allegedly behind the Airport bomb plot in 2000 and the organizer of the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks. A plot to bomb the U.S. embassy in Paris failed, as did an alleged plot to attack a target in Yugoslavia. He was probably conspiring in both of those plots.
The U.S. government believes he became Al Qaeda's top military strategist following the death of Muhammad Atef in November 2001.
He is said to have gained weight and changed his hairstyle probably to evade capture. Yet, he was captured 2 March, 2002 in a two story apartment in Faisalabad, Pakistan. He suffered a wound to the groin in a firefight.
