Haitham al-Badri
Haitham Sabah Shaker Mohammed al-Badri (Arabic: هيثم صباح شاكر محمد البدري, died 2 August 2007) was a commander of Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) in Salahuddin Province[1] who reportedly masterminded the 2006 al-Askari mosque bombing which substantially damaged the Shiite mosque and set off a wave of retaliatory violence by the Shiites against other Muslims. He was a former Iraqi government official under Saddam Hussein while other sources state he was a warrant officer in the Republican Guard; and following the US-led invasion in 2003, joined Jamaat Ansar al-Sunna before becoming a member of Al-Qaeda in Iraq.[2] Badri was killed in a US airstrike east of Samarra on 2 August 2007.[3][4] He was a distant relative of future Islamic State leader Ibrahim al-Badri al-Samarrai (Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi), being the son of one of al-Baghdadi's cousins.[5] References
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