Overview

Saif al-Adl is a senior al-Qaeda (AQ) leader and a member of its leadership council. Al-Adl served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Egyptian Special Forces until his arrest following an assassination attempt on Egypt’s Interior Minister in 1987. Since 1990, al-Adl has provided military and intelligence training to numerous al-Qaeda operatives and associated groups. In November 1998, he was charged by a federal grand jury for his alleged role in the bombings of U.S Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Additionally, al-Adl allegedly helped train some of the hijackers involved in the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001.