Difference between revisions of "Abdelhamid Abaaoud"
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[[File:Abdelhamid_Abaaoud.jpg|300px|right|thumb|[[Abdelhamid Abaaoud]] the suspected mastermind of the [[mass murder in Paris]] ]] | [[File:Abdelhamid_Abaaoud.jpg|300px|right|thumb|[[Abdelhamid Abaaoud]] the suspected mastermind of the [[mass murder in Paris]] ]] | ||
| − | '''Abdelhamid Abaaoud''' or ''' | + | '''Abdelhamid Abaaoud''' or '''Abdel-Hamid Abu Oud''' is a 27 year old [[Belgium|Belgian]] national of Moroccan origin who French investigators believe masterminded the [[mass murder in Paris]] of 13 November 2015 which killed at least 129 people.<ref>[http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/16/abdelhamid-abaaoud-suspected-mastermind-of-paris-terror-attacks "Paris attacks 'mastermind' Abdel-Hamid Abu Oud: what we know"]</ref> Thought to be in [[Syria]] now with the [[Islamic State]] (IS) group, Abdelhamid Abaaoud grew up in Molenbeek, a district of Brussels known for its many Arab immigrants, blighted by high unemployment and overcrowded housing. He is an associate of [[Salah Abdeslam]], who is on the run and whose brother Brahim blew himself up in Paris.<ref>[http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/abdelhamid-abaaoud-belgian-man-identified-as-suspected-mastermind-of-paris-attacks-a6735871.html "Abdelhamid Abaaoud: What we know about Belgian man identified as suspected Paris attacks 'mastermind'"]</ref> |
Abaaoud and Salah Abdeslam were both jailed in Belgium in 2010 for armed robbery. But Abaaoud - alias Abu Umar al-Baljiki - joined [[IS]] in early 2013. It is not clear when he became radicalised. The Associated Press reports that he attended one of Belgium's top secondary schools - Saint-Pierre d'Uccle. He was in contact with [[Mehdi Nemmouche]], a jihadist of Franco-Algerian origin, who shot and killed four people at the Jewish Museum in Brussels in May 2014. | Abaaoud and Salah Abdeslam were both jailed in Belgium in 2010 for armed robbery. But Abaaoud - alias Abu Umar al-Baljiki - joined [[IS]] in early 2013. It is not clear when he became radicalised. The Associated Press reports that he attended one of Belgium's top secondary schools - Saint-Pierre d'Uccle. He was in contact with [[Mehdi Nemmouche]], a jihadist of Franco-Algerian origin, who shot and killed four people at the Jewish Museum in Brussels in May 2014. | ||
Revision as of 22:13, 16 November 2015
Abdelhamid Abaaoud or Abdel-Hamid Abu Oud is a 27 year old Belgian national of Moroccan origin who French investigators believe masterminded the mass murder in Paris of 13 November 2015 which killed at least 129 people.[1] Thought to be in Syria now with the Islamic State (IS) group, Abdelhamid Abaaoud grew up in Molenbeek, a district of Brussels known for its many Arab immigrants, blighted by high unemployment and overcrowded housing. He is an associate of Salah Abdeslam, who is on the run and whose brother Brahim blew himself up in Paris.[2]
Abaaoud and Salah Abdeslam were both jailed in Belgium in 2010 for armed robbery. But Abaaoud - alias Abu Umar al-Baljiki - joined IS in early 2013. It is not clear when he became radicalised. The Associated Press reports that he attended one of Belgium's top secondary schools - Saint-Pierre d'Uccle. He was in contact with Mehdi Nemmouche, a jihadist of Franco-Algerian origin, who shot and killed four people at the Jewish Museum in Brussels in May 2014.
Nemmouche had also spent time in Molenbeek - an area where, Belgian officials admit, the radical Salafist ideology has flourished among some young Muslims. In recent years, Molenbeek has had "the highest concentration of foreign terrorist fighters in Europe", said Liesbeth van der Heide, at Leiden University's Centre for Terrorism and Counterterrorism in the Netherlands. More jihadists have gone to fight in Iraq and Syria from Belgium than from any other EU country, per head of population.
Belgian authorities suspect that Abaaoud helped organise and finance a terror cell in Verviers, eastern Belgium. It was broken up in a police raid in January. Two jihadists were killed in Verviers - identified by IS later as Khalid Ben Larbi (alias Abu Zubayr, 23) and Soufiane Amghar (alias Abu Khalid, 26).
In an interview published by the IS English-language magazine Dabiq in February, Abaaoud talked about the Verviers incident. He said he had secretly returned to Belgium with the other two, and they had "set up a safe house while we planned to carry out operations against the crusaders":
- "The intelligence knew me from before as I had been previously imprisoned by them," he said, boasting that he had still managed to slip away after the Verviers raid. "I was even stopped by an officer who contemplated me so as to compare me to the picture, but he let me go, as he did not see the resemblance! This was nothing but a gift from Allah."
An IS propaganda video in 2014 showed Abaaoud in a vehicle that was dragging mutilated bodies behind it. Abaaoud was also linked to a foiled terror attack aboard a Thalys train in August this year. A gunman, Ayoub El-Khazzani, was overpowered by passengers aboard the train in northern France. In that case, and in a foiled attack on a church in Villejuif, France, investigators listed Abaaoud as a suspect.
Abaaoud was so devoted to jihad that he persuaded his 13-year-old brother to join him in Syria.[3]
