Khalid Shaykh Muhammad
Background
PHONETICS HAH-lid SHAKE moo-HAH-mud
KEY ALIAS(ES) Mukhtar
AFFILIATION Al-Qa'ida
NATIONALITY Baluchi born and raised in Kuwait
Khalid Shaykh Muhammad (KSM) is one of history's most infamous terrorists, and his capture in 2003 deprived al-Qa'ida of one of its most capable senior operatives. He devoted most of his adult life to terrorist plotting, specifically against the United States. and was the driving force behind the attacks on 11 September 2001 as well as several subsequent plots against US and Western targets worldwide.
After graduating from North Carolina A&T State University in 1986 with a degree in mechanical engineering, KSM traveled to Afghanistan to participate in the anti-Soviet fighting there. KSM joined Yousef in the Philippines in 1994 to plan the "Bojinka" plot -- the simultaneous bombings of a dozen US-flagged commercial airliners over the Pacific. After the plot was disrupted and Yousef was caught in early 1995, KSM was indicted for his role in the plot and went into hiding. By 1999, he convinced Usama Bin Ladin to provide him with operatives and funding for a new airliner plot, which culminated in the attacks on 11 September two years later.
KSM headed al-Qa'ida's Media Committee from 2000 and he helped build close operational ties between al-Qa'ida and the Jemaah Islamiya (JI) terrorist group that was plotting against US and Israeli targets in Southeast Asia. By late 2001, with the collapse of the Taliban regime and the dispersal of al-Qa'ida's leadership, the prestige associated with engineering the attacks on 11 September propelled KSM into the role of external operations chief for al-Qa'ida.
In addition to plots targeting Britain, KSM launched several plots targeting the US Homeland, including a plot in late 2001 to have 11 suicide operatives hijack a plane over the Pacific and crash it into a skyscraper on the US West Coast; a plan in early 2002 to send al-Qa'ida operatives to conduct attacks in the U.S.; and a plot in early 2003 to employ a network of Pakistanis -- including Majid Khan -- to smuggle explosives into New York and to target gas stations, railroad tracks, and a bridge in New York.(Source)
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