Muhannad

Who was Muhannad?

Khaled Yusuf Muhammad al-Emirate, more commonly known as Muhannad, and also known as Abu Anas, was a Mujahid Emir fighting in Chechnya. Following the death of Abu Hafs al-Urduni on 26 November 2006, he was named leader of the Arab Mujahideen in Chechnya, the battalion of foreign fighters once commanded by the notorious Saudi-born Ibn al-Khattab.

Although Russian intelligence has claimed that he was a native of Jordan who served as a combat pilot in the Jordanian Air Force and who also underwent military training in the United States, it is more commonly believed that he was Saudi. There are also disparities in the spelling of his last name, but the most common version is that utilized by Russia’s National Anti-terrorism Committee, which is Khaled Yusuf Muhammad al-Emirate. He was killed by Russian security forces outside the village of Serzhen-Yurt, Chechnya on 21 April 2011.