Saif al-Adel

Who is Saif al-Adel?

Saif al-Adel is an Egyptian former military colonel, explosives expert, and a high-ranking member of al-Qaeda who is still at large. Adel is under indictment by the United States for his part in the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Kenya.

According to the indictment, Adel is a member of the majlis al shura of al-Qaeda and a member of its military committee. He has provided military and intelligence training to members of al-Qaeda and Egyptian Islamic Jihad in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Sudan, and to anti-UN Somali tribes. It is possible that his trainees included the Somalis of the first Battle of Mogadishu. He established the al-Qaeda training facility at Ras Kamboni in Somalia near the Kenyan border.

He was one of the masterminds of the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Al Sadat, and left the country in 1988 to join the mujahideen in repelling the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. He is believed to have traveled to southern Lebanon along with Abu Talha al-Sudani, Sayful Islam al-Masri, Abu Ja`far al-Masri, and Abu Salim al-Masri, where he trained alongside Hezbollah Al-Hejaz.

In Khartoum, Sudan, Adel taught recruited militants how to handle explosives. Along with Saeed al-Masri and Mahfouz Ould al-Walid, he is believed to have opposed the September 11 attacks two months prior to their execution.