Abu Omar al-Saif

Abu Omar al-Saif ( _ar. أبو عمر السيف) was an informal name or nom de guerre of a Saudi Wahhabist Islamist and militant operating first in Afghanistan (1986-1988) and later in the North Caucasus (1996-2005) as the mufti of Arab fighters in Chechnya, allegedly with close ties to Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda.. His full name wasMuhammad bin Abdullah bin Saif al-Tamimi (محمد بن عبد الله بن سيف التميمي). He sometimes also used the name, or was addressed as, al-Jaber. He was born in 1968 or 1969 in Saudi Arabia, and died in Dagestan in December 2005 [http://www.asharqalawsat.com/details.asp?section=4&article=337712&issue=9875 Report of death] , "Asharq al-Awsat" quoting the "Kavkaz" website, 11 December 2005] [http://www.jamestown.org/print_friendly.php?volume_id=409&issue_id=3567&article_id=2370604 Abu Omar reportedly killed] , Jamestown Foundation, 15 December 2005] , either by suicide or by Russian military action.

Al-Saif seems to have been the trustee of Arab financiers, receiving money from them through some institution in Dagestan (likely the Makhachkala office of Benevolence International Foundation, a KSA-based terrorist charity, now banned [http://www.un.org/Docs/sc/committees/1267/tablelist.htm UN list of affiliates of al-Qaeda and the Taliban] ] ), and distributing it to paramilitary forces and terrorists across southern Russia. His predecessor in this role was Ibn al-Khattaba] , who was also a Saudi and was also killed in Dagestan. It is possible that, after al-Saif's elimination, the Jordanian or Saudi known as Abu Hafs al-Urduni took over al-Saif's function, or tried to take it over. Al-Urduni was killed 11 months after al-Saif, again in Dagestan. BIF had been shut down by that time. Since al-Urduni's time, the Wahhabi terrorist presence in Dagestan has been completely wiped out.

In the Zelimkhan Yandarbiev's Islamic government of Chechnya Abu Omar al-Saif held the title of “chairman of the Shariah judges” and was responsible for implementation of the Islamic courts. It is unclear whether he took command of Abu al-Walid al-Ghamdi’s forces in Chechnya after the latter's death in 2004. He was known to a small extent as an ideologue and spiritual leader; one essay by him is preserved in al-Qaeda's online library called "Tawhed".

Abu Omar al-Saif was suspected in Russia in connection with the 1999 apartment bombings in Moscow and Volgodonsk, and suspected of financing the 2004 Beslan school hostage crisis.

Al-Qaeda's media organ as-Sahab released a video around the third anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks; al-Saif appears in it, praising the violence of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula during the summer of 2004.

Abu Omar al-Saif wrote several articles and books, especially related to the issues of Iraq and democracy which he considered un-Islamic and idolatrous [ [http://www.globalterroralert.com/pdf/0105/chechnya0105.pdf A letter from Shaykn Abu Omar al-Saif to the Iraqi Mujahideen Concerning the Upcoming Elections] ] [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20051102065143/http://siteinstitute.org/bin/articles.cgi?ID=publications99505&Category=publications&Subcategory=0 A Speech by Abu Omar al-Seif Addressing the Mujahideen in Iraq] ] , and the conflict in the Caucasus which he believed could only be solved through armed Islamic Jihad [ [http://counterterror.typepad.com/the_counterterrorism_blog/2005/12/reports_senior_.html Reports: Senior Saudi Al-Qaida Member Sets Off Suicide Blast in Dagestan] ] .

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