Al Qaeda Intelligence Chief Reported Killed in Drone Strike

Abu Ubaydah Abdullah al Adam, a senior al Qaeda leader who serves as the intelligence chief for the terror group, is reported to have been killed in a recent US drone strike in Pakistan's tribal areas. The report is unconfirmed, and al Qaeda has not issued an official statement regarding al Adam.

Two jihadists, identified as Al Wathiq Billah and Barod, posted on Twitter on April 20 that al Adam was killed in a US drone strike in North Waziristan, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which obtained the tweets. Barod “indicated he was killed that day,” according to SITE.

No drone strikes were reported in Pakistan on April 20, but an attack was reported on April 17 in South Waziristan. The last US drone strike reported in North Waziristan took place on April 14 in the Datta Khel area, which is a known haven for al Qaeda's top leaders. Several senior al Qaeda leaders and military commanders have been killed in drone strikes in the Datta Khel area.

The two jihadists' claims that al Adam was killed in a drone strike are not official confirmation that he is indeed dead. Al Qaeda has not released an official martyrdom statement announcing his death.

US intelligence officials involved in the targeting of al Qaeda's network in the Afghan and Pakistan region who were contacted by The Long War Journal would neither confirm nor deny the reports of his death, but said they are aware of the reports.

One intelligence official said that al Adam “is on the target list” and is considered to be a “very dangerous operative.”

“He is essentially al Qaeda's intelligence and internal security chief,” the US intelligence official said. He “appears to have replaced” Mohammad Khalil Hasan al Hakaymah, who is better known as Abu Jihad al Masri, the former al Qaeda intelligence chief who was killed in a US drone strike in 2008.

Several US intelligence officials contacted by The Long War Journal refute the steady stream of press reports that al Qaeda's leadership is “shattered” and “broken.”

“While [al Adam] is not a household name, he is in the top tiers of al Qaeda's leadership cadre,” one official said. “He demonstrates that al Qaeda continues to field a deep bench of leaders and operatives who can be called when their predecessors are taken out.”

In the Afghan-Pakistan theater, al Qaeda has often tapped the plethora of allied Pakistani jihadist groups to fill leadership voids caused when US drones kill off what one US official has described as al Qaeda's “legacy leaders,” the leaders with several decades of experience working inside al Qaeda. Additionally, there are numerous leaders and operatives like al Adam who may not be “famous” like other al Qaeda leaders but who still play a critical role in the organization.

Al Adam served in al Qaeda prior to the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the US, and is linked to some of al Qaeda's most notorious leaders.

A US intelligence official said that al Adam had worked for Abu Zubaydah (senior al Qaeda leader and operations chief, captured in Pakistan in 2002); Abu Hamza Rabia (external operations chief, killed in a US drone strike in Pakistan in 2005); and Atiyah Abd al Rahman (general manager, killed in a US drone strike in 2011).

In an article in Vanguards of the Khorasan, al Adam claimed he had served with Abu Musab al Zarqawi, the former emir of al Qaeda in Iraq, long before he opened a front against the US in Iraq in 2003. Al Adam said he had befriended Zarqawi at an al Qaeda training camp in Jalalabad in Nangarhar, well before the US invaded Afghanistan in 2001. He also claimed he had hosted Ayman al Zawahiri at his home in Afghanistan sometime in the 1990s. While al Adam's claims may seem fanciful, his account was published by Vanguards of the Khorasan, which is al Qaeda's official magazine intended for internal use.

Al Adam is a Palestinian and was raised in Saudi Arabia.

The writings and speeches of al Adam

Al Qaeda has released on several jihadist forums numerous statements, writings, and audiotapes of al Adam that focused primarily on security and intelligence issues as well as the Arab Spring. Additionally he has published martyrdom statements and articles at Islamic Turkistan Magazine, a magazine produced by the al Qaeda-linked Turkistan Islamic Party.

Writing under the name Abu Ubaydah al Maqdisi, al Adam appeared in the introductory issue of Vanguards of the Khorasan, published in November 2005. In that edition he published a martyrdom statement. He also wrote martyrdom statements in the 3rd, 7th, 9th, 13th, and 19th editions of Vanguards of the Khorasan. In the 7th and 9th editions, he eulogized Zarqawi and Rabia, respectively. In the 19th edition, published on Sept. 12, 2012, al Adam wrote about Osama bin Laden's legacy and the Arab Spring.

In 2008, a lengthy book titled “Martyrs in a Time of Alienation” was published by al Adam under the name Abu Ubaydah al Maqdisi. The book provides biographies of 120 al Qaeda fighters killed during fighting in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Among those listed are Zakariya al Sabbar, a member of the Hamburg Cell that furnished several key hijackers and leaders for the Sept. 11, 2001 attack, and Abu Hamza Rabia.

In 2010, al Adam released a series of audiotapes titled “The Terrorism Industry” that advised jihadists on security and intelligence issues. In the tapes, he recommended that jihadists take hostages for ransom, and noated that al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and the Afghan Taliban have been very successful doing this. He also said that jihadists must be prepared to kill hostages if there is a risk they will be lost. He also urged jihadists to conduct attacks on the US and the United Kingdom.

In one of the tapes, al Adam noted that he was a lieutenant to Abu Zubaydah, who had charged him with maintaining al Qaeda's relationship with tribesmen in Pakistan's tribal areas. Al Adam distributed al Qaeda funds to Pakistani tribesmen to win their support. Al Adam said that he had traveled with Abu Zubaydah to Pakistan following the overthrow of the Taliban after the American invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001.

Al Adam also provided advice to al Qaeda affiliates on how to maintain relationships with local tribes and clans in areas where the affiliates hope to impose sharia, or Islamic law. In July 2012, he wrote “Awakening Councils of Apostasy and the Means to Stop it” to address the rise in local opposition to al Qaeda and jihadist movements. His practical advice included: respecting the local religion and customs; imposing sharia in phases as opposed to quickly and ruthlessly (as al Qaeda has done in Iraq and Mali); refraining from excessively taxing the locals; and, at times, showing mercy to those being punished.

In August 2012, al Adam waded into the sectarian aspect of the Syrian civil war when he advised Sunnis to execute Alawites, a Shia minority sect that supports President Bashir al Assad.

“For true Muslims this combating sect that is protected by arms and power can only be met with the sword alone,” al Adam said in a statement that was released on the Ansar al Mujahideen Network and obtained by The Long War Journal. “Therefore, dear Sunni Muslim brother, do not consult anyone about killing Alawites and looting their properties; it is a right and a duty to defend the repressed Sunnis in the land ….”

Shortly afterward he issued another article clarifying that statement, saying that only Alawites responsible for killing Sunnis should be killed. But he then said, “Nevertheless, the overwhelming majority of this infidel sect is currently fighting Muslims.”

In January 2012, al Adam released a book titled “The Worthy Outcomes and Gains of Washington and Manhattan Raids” under the name Abu Ubaydah al Maqdisi. The book's introduction was written by Mustafa Abu Yazid, al Qaeda's former general manager who was killed in a US drone strike in 2010.

In that book al Adam called the suicide bomber “the Islamic deterrent weapon” and “a strategic option for deterring the transgressors.” He then noted that after the Sept. 11 attacks on the US, the use of suicide bombers proliferated in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Al Adam's last known public statement was released in February 2013, and titled 'Message to the New Jihadists.”

In that statement, which was obtained by The Long War Journal, he said that al Qaeda is fighting “primarily an intelligence security war.”

“Its victor is who scores strategic hits against the vital key structures of the other party,” he continues. He then advises “the newcomer, to the jihadist fronts scattered all over the world,” to practice basic fieldcraft. He says that new jihadists must: maintain secrecy and tell no one of their intent; ensure that they have proper security when entering new battlefields; rely on established smuggling routes to enter new countries but remember that smugglers often work with government forces; and avoid communications with relatives while in countries where waging jihad or while in neighboring countries.

In addition to his publications in al Qaeda's official media outlets, al Adam has written written at least five articles for Islamic Turkistan Magazine, the official magazine of the al Qaeda-linked Turkistan Islamic Party, which is based in Pakistan's tribal areas and also wages jihad in Afghanistan. He issued biographies for slain fighters in the August 2011 edition and the April and June 2012 editions, as well as an article on the Pakistani military in the August 2011 edition and the importance of unity in the April 2012 edition.