Abdul Qader al-Najdi

Abdul Qader al-Najdi, also known as Abu Muaz al-Tikriti, was an Iraqi Islamic militant and the leader of the Islamic State in Libya. He was killed in September 2020.^[1]

History

He is sometimes confused as being Saudi Arabian due to the 'al-Najdi' in his name (Najd being a region of Saudi Arabia), but he was an Iraqi from the city of Tikrit as indicated by his surname. He is not to be confused with Abu Habib al-Jazrawi, a deceased Saudi IS leader in Libya.

He replaced Abu Nabil al-Anbari who was killed in November 2015.^[2] His appointment was announced in the IS newsletter al-Naba in March 2016.^[3]

The Libyan National Army (LNA) reported in September 2020 that during a raid in Sebha, it had killed the man who had led the Libyan branch of IS since 2015 who they identified as Abu Moaz al-Iraqi, also known as Abu Abdullah al-Iraqi.^[4]

References

1. https://www.dni.gov/nctc/ftos/isis_libya_fto.html
2. Paton, Callum (10 March 2016). "New Isis leader in Libya – Abdel Qader al-Najdi threatens Daesh invasion of Rome through Africa". IB Times. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
3. Lewis, Aidan (10 March 2016). Ireland, Louise (ed.). "New Islamic State leader in Libya says group 'stronger every day'". Reuters. The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. Archived from the original on March 11, 2016. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
4. Eastern Libyan forces say they killed Islamic State leader, Reuters, September 23, 2020