Mohammed Atef (also known as Sobhi Abu Sitta, Abu Hafs Al-Masri, El-Kabir (the big man), Taysir, Sheik Taysir Abdullah, and Abu Khadijah) was a high-ranking deputy of Osama bin Laden, in charge of military affairs for Al Qaeda. During the war in Afghanistan after 9/11, Atef was killed in a bombing raid.
Atef was born in the 1940s or early 1950s in Menoufya, which is located in the Nile delta region of Egypt, approximately 50 km north of Cairo. Atef spent two years in the Egyptian national army. Atef later became a member of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, and in the 1980s, he joined the mujahadeen in Afghanistan and Pakistan.[1][2]
After 9/11, authorities in the U.S. and U.K. gathered electronic intercepts, including telephone conversations and electronic bank transfers, which indicate that Atef was a key figure in the planning of the 9/11 attacks.[3]
In early 2001, one of Atef's sons married one of Bin Laden's daughter, which affirms the close ties the two men had. Atef likely would have been Osama bin Laden's successor at the top of Al Qaeda.[4]