Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar (Arabic:مدحت مرسي السيد عمر), also known asAbu Khabab al-Masri (Arabic:أبو خباب المصري; 29 April 1953 inEgypt – 28 July 2008 inPakistan) was a chemist and alleged top bomb maker foral-Qaeda and part ofOsama bin Laden's inner circle. The United States had a $5 million bounty on his head. Although reported to have been killed in a U.S. attack in January 2006, he survived and intelligence officials believe he went on to attempt to resurrect al-Qaeda's program to develop or obtainweapons of mass destruction.[1] On 28 July 2008, Mursi was killed in an Americandrone attack inSouth Waziristan, Pakistan.[2]
Umar is believed by U.S. authorities to have run the infamousDerunta training camp inAfghanistan where he is reported to have useddogs and other animals for hischemicalexperiments. He is also alleged to have written an explosives manual, and to have personally trainedRichard Reid, the so-called "shoe bomber", as well asZacarias Moussaoui. The manual is still in use by al-Qaeda operatives today.
TheCIA acknowledged on 26 January 2006 that they had been using a photo ofAbu Hamza al-Masri in their wanted photo for Midhat Mursi, who shared the similar alias"Abu Khabab al Masri".[3][4][5] Mursi's poster at theRewards for Justice Program was changed to a different photo.
He was reported to have been killed in theDamadola airstrike inPakistan on 13 January 2006 along with several other al-Qaeda operatives.[6][7] The target of the strike wasAyman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda's then-number 2 man. Pakistani intelligence originally confirmed Mursi's death in the airstrike along with al-Zawahiri's alleged son-in-law, Abdul Rehman al-Maghribi, but on 8 September 2007, theWashington Post, citing "U.S. and Pakistani officials", said that all the dead in that raid had been locals.[8]
On 28 July 2008,the Pentagon confirmed al-Masri was killed in a missile strike inPakistan that also killed five other militants including Ibrahim, the son ofAhmad Salama Mabruk.[2][9][10]
Mursi's son, Mohammed al-Masri, was born in 1980 inAqaba,Jordan. He has been associated with theIslamic State of Iraq and the Levant as well as al-Qaeda, though he has expressed dissatisfaction with the conduct of the former.[11]
