“…Al Qaeda’s Emir and military commander, Muhammad Atef, was killed by a US airstrike in Kabul [Afghanistan], on November 14, 2001. A founder member, Atef had responsibility for both Al Qaeda’s domestic Afghan operations as well as the day-to-day running of the organization. In addition to being Osama’s brother-in-law, he planned all the major Al Qaeda guerrilla and terrorist operations after the death of his predecessor [Abu Ubadiah] al-Banshiri in April 1996. Atef was deputy commander of the Somalia operation and immediately before his death conceptualised the broad contours of the anti-coalition campaign in Afghanistan in 2001.”
– Rohan Gunaratna, Inside al Qaeda, Pages 227-228