Mujab Al-Zahrani: Dead and Wanted

Several men alleged to be members of al-Qaeda who were listed amongst 85 individuals wanted by Saudi security authorities are already deceased, according to members of the jihadist Internet community. The Interior Ministry of Saudi Arabia released this wanted list on February 3, 2009, naming 83 Saudis and 2 Yemenis , including officials in al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Many jihadists scoffed at the list, ridiculing the Saudi Interior Ministry for its failure to identify at least seven of those wanted as dead, including one who was announced as a “martyr” in an al-Qaeda video. Another, Mujab bin Attiya al-Zahrani, No. 78 on the list, received a lengthy eulogy written by the jihadist forum member, “Sanafi al-Nasr.” The eulogy provides allegedly primary source accounts of Zahrani (AKA Abdullah Azzam al-Azdi, Abdullah Azzam al-Saudi) in terms of his life, activity within jihad, and circumstances of his death.

Postings made on the al-Fallujah jihadist forum following the release of the list inform that seven of the 85 wanted died in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, and Syria. These deceased individuals include: Ahmed Kuteim Muhammad al-Huthali (No. 10), Hassan Ibrahim Hamad al-Shaba’an (No. 21), Sultan Radi Sumeilil al-Uteibi (No. 32), Tuleihan Mutlaq Tuleihan al-Muteiri (No. 36), Abdullah Muhammad Abdullah al-Ayed (No. 47), Ubeid Mubarak Ubeid al-Kufeil (No. 51), and Mujab bin Attiya al-Zahrani (No. 78). Al-Ayed appeared in the al-Qaeda video, “Winds of Paradise 2,” which was released by the group's media arm on jihadist forums on January 27, 2008. The video indicated that he and other foreign militants died as a result of a foreign airstrike in Zabul province in Afghanistan. Another forum member indicated that Al-Kufeil participated in a suicide operation in Syria as part of Fatah al-Islam, the jihadist group that operated from the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in Lebanon and combated the Lebanese army during the summer of 2007. Regarding al-Muteiri, another of the seven deceased men, a jihadist wrote:

Shortly after the postings about the seven dead, on February 8, the jihadist forum member Sanafi al-Nasr posted a eulogy for Mujab bin Attiya al-Zahrani, and included pictures in which Zahrani is sitting in front of a Sony VAIO laptop, with a video camera and pistol beside him. Al-Nasr explained that Zahrani and four other individuals died as a result of a foreign airstrike. He provided news articles reporting the death of Zahrani, described as an al-Qaeda official, in Indi Khel, Bannu district in the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan on November 19, 2008. Al-Nasr recalls how he learned of Zahrani’s death, saying:

Sanafi al-Nasr expressed both his sadness for Zahrani’s death and his acceptance. He says that one month prior to his death, Zahrani told him of a dream he had in which he was killed just as his namesake Abdullah Azzam was killed. Azzam, an influential jihadist scholar who helped found al-Qaeda, was killed as a result of three simultaneous bomb blasts on his vehicle on November 24, 1989 in Peshawar, Pakistan.

Zahrani, Sanafi al-Nasr claims, is a descendant of one of the companions of the Prophet Muhammad, Abu Hureira Abdul Rahman bin Sahr al-Dosi. He was in his early thirties at his time of death, and he grew up in the area of Jabour, Southern Saudi Arabia, and lived in the Hijaz, working in the Saudi military corps. While residing in the Hijaz, Zahrani studied with a sheikh who “held his hand” and brought him to al-Farouq camp, an al-Qaeda training camp, in Afghanistan. Sanafi al-Nasr affirmed that Zahrani was amongst the elite of his peers at the military camp. Following al-Qaeda’s attacks on September 11, 2001, and the ensuing US-led war in Afghanistan, Zahrani remained amongst the ranks of the mujahideen and was subsequently arrested in Kabul.

After his release from prison in 2005, Zahrani rejoined the mujahideen, emboldened by his incarceration. Sanafi al-Nasr says: “Captivity only increased his insistence to continue fighting the enemies of Allah. He emerged from captivity like a roaring lion who desires revenge against the brothers of monkeys and pigs [referring to Christians and Jews].” Zahrani was appointed by jihadist leaders as an official in “foreign preparation” and provided assistance to the Taliban. Sanafi al-Nasr notes that residents of the towns in which Zahrani stayed found honor in sheltering him, and he recalls an occasion in which he and Zahrani walked through such a town:

Zahrani was wanted by Saudi authorities prior to the publication of the list, Sanafi al-Nasr says, and his picture was shown to captives of Americans and Pakistanis so as to ascertain his whereabouts. After his death, Sanafi al-Nasr explains that an individual called the Saudi Embassy in Pakistan, and the embassy employee requested verification that Zahrani was killed, asking: “Is it true that Abdullah Azzam was killed!!”

Sanafi al-Nasr, rallying jihadists and threatening the enemy, informs that Zahrani helped recruit many Muslim youth for jihad, some of whom are dead and others whom remain seeking death. He declares: “Let the enemies of Allah be pleased with what they hate. Azzam did not depart without leaving behind him many blessed seeds that will grow to become a thorn in their throats and bombs exploding in their faces. Tomorrow is not that far.”