2,425 articles
20th hijacker
20th hijacker: journalistic label for a suspected missing 20th participant in the 9/11 attacks; strongest candidate is Saudi Mohamed al-Kahtani, denied entry at Orlando on August 4, 2001, later detainee #063 at Guantanamo.
A. A. K. Niazi
A. A. K. Niazi (Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi) was a lieutenant general of the Pakistan Army who signed the surrender of East Pakistan in Dhaka in 1971.
Aaron Lukas
Aaron Lukas (born 1971) is an American career intelligence officer, former CIA chief of station, and Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, designated acting DNI after Tulsi Gabbard's 2026 resignation.
Abane Ramdane
Abane Ramdane (عبان رمضان) was an Algerian revolutionary and politician who, as the leading figure of the FLN, organized the Soummam Congress of August 1956 before being assassinated in 1957.
Abd el-Krim
Abd el-Krim (محمد بن عبد الكريم الخطابي) was a Riffian leader who defeated Spain at Annual in 1921 and led the Republic of the Rif until 1926.
Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (عبد الفتاح البرهان)
Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (عبد الفتاح البرهان), Sudanese army general and de facto head of state, led the 2021 coup ousting PM Hamdok and commands the SAF against the RSF in the civil war since April 2023.
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Egyptian president since 2014; as defense minister led the 2013 ouster of Mohamed Morsi; governs through hyperpresidential powers, military-run state capitalism, and repression; external debt rose from $46 billion to about $153 billion.
Abdelhafid Boussouf
Abdelhafid Boussouf, known as Si Mabrouk, was an Algerian colonel who founded the FLN's intelligence and armament ministry, the MALG, and shaped Algeria's post-independence security services.
Abdelhamid Abaaoud
Abdelhamid Abaaoud, known as Abu Omar Soussi, was a Belgian-Moroccan Islamic State operative identified as the ringleader of the November 2015 Paris attacks that killed 130 people.
Abderraouf Jdey
Abderraouf Jdey, aka Farouq Al-Tunisi (born 1965, Tunisia), a Tunisian-born Canadian al-Qaeda fugitive wanted by the FBI for questioning over terrorist threats; $5 million reward; whereabouts unknown.
Abdul Haris Nasution
Abdul Haris Nasution (1918–2000) was an Indonesian army general who twice served as chief of staff of the Indonesian Army, survived the 1965 coup attempt, and developed the dwifungsi doctrine.
Abdul Rashid Dostum
Abdul Rashid Dostum (عبدالرشید دوستم), Uzbek Afghan warlord and politician, founder of Junbesh-e Milli, ex-KHAD militia commander, northern strongman, First Vice President 2014, fled to Uzbekistan in 2021.
Abdul Salam Bhuttavi
Hafiz Abdul Salam Bhuttavi (born 1940, Gujranwala), founding member and deputy emir of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba under Hafiz Muhammad Saeed; acting emir after the 2008 Mumbai attacks, US-sanctioned 2011, UN-listed 2012, died in a Pakistani prison.
Abdülkerim Nadir Pasha
Abdülkerim Nadir Pasha (Çırpanlı Abdi Pasha, 1807–1883) was an Ottoman field commander and statesman who led the Rumeli army on the Danube front in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878.
Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah (عبد الله أحمد عبد الله)
Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah (عبد الله أحمد عبد الله), aka Abu Muhammad al-Masri or Saleh, was an Egyptian founding member of al-Qaeda, accused mastermind of the 1998 US embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, and was killed in Tehran on August 7, 2020.
Abe no Munetō
Abe no Munetō (安倍宗任) was a Heian-era Japanese military commander of Mutsu Province who fought in the Former Nine Years' War and was exiled in 1062.
Abebe Aregai
Ras Abebe Aregai (አበበ አረጋይ, 1903–1960) was an Ethiopian military commander who led guerrilla resistance to the Italian occupation and later served as prime minister.
Abhinandan Varthaman
Abhinandan Varthaman, Indian Air Force Group Captain (retired), flew a MiG-21 Bison shot down over Nowshera on 27 February 2019; captured, released 1 March 2019, awarded the Vir Chakra, later joined FLY91.
Abiye Abebe
Abiye Abebe was an Ethiopian lieutenant general and statesman who served Emperor Haile Selassie as ambassador to France, minister of justice, and first Governor-General of Eritrea.
Abraham Crijnssen
Abraham Crijnssen, also spelled Crijnsens, was a Zeeland naval commander who conquered English Suriname in 1667 and served as its Dutch administrator until his death in 1669.
Abraham Golan
Abraham Golan, Hungarian-Israeli former French Foreign Legion soldier, founded Spear Operations Group (Delaware, 2015–2018), which ran a UAE-funded assassination program in Yemen and a 2016 surveillance operation against Anas Altikriti in London; sued by Yemeni MP Anssaf Ali Mayo.
Abraham Woodhull
Abraham Woodhull (Samuel Culper Sr., code 722), 1750–1826, Setauket, Long Island farmer and chief spy of the Culper Spy Ring, recruited by Benjamin Tallmadge in 1778 to gather British intelligence for George Washington.
Abram Petrovich Gannibal (Абрам Петрович Ганнибал)
Abram Petrovich Gannibal (Абрам Петрович Ганнибал), c. 1696–1781, African-born Russian military engineer, godson of Peter the Great, general-anshef and head of the Engineer Corps, maternal great-grandfather of Pushkin; birthplace disputed between Abyssinia and Cameroon.
Abu Agila Masud
Abu Agila Mohammad Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi (Abu Agila Masud, Mohammed Abouajela Masud), former Libyan intelligence colonel charged in the US for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing; seized in Tripoli in 2022, tried in Washington on a disputed 2012 confession.
Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti
Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, real name Sheikh Abu Ahmed, was Osama bin Laden's Pakistani-born Kuwaiti courier and caretaker. His intercepted 2010 phone call led the CIA to the Abbottabad compound; he was killed in the May 2, 2011 raid, and his identification remains contested between CIA and Senate accounts.
Abu al-Hasan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi (أبو الحسن الهاشمي القرشي)
Abu al-Hasan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi (أبو الحسن الهاشمي القرشي) was an Iraqi militant who served as the third caliph of the Islamic State from March 2022 until his death in October 2022.
Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurashi
Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurashi, also known as Abu Hussein al-Qurashi, was the fourth caliph of the Islamic State, named in November 2022 and killed in northwestern Syria in April 2023.
Abu Ali al-Anbari
Abu Ali al-Anbari (أبو علي الأنباري), reportedly Abdul Rahman Mustafa al-Qaduli, was an Iraqi senior ISIL deputy overseeing Syria operations and the Security Council; distinct from Libya leader Abu Nabil al-Anbari; killed March 2016.
Abu Azrael (أبو عزرائيل)
Abu Azrael (أبو عزرائيل), Ayoub Falih Hasan al-Rubayie, born 1978, is an Iraqi Kataib al-Imam Ali commander and PMF social-media celebrity who fought ISIS, famed as "Iraq's Rambo," later resigning from the militia in December 2023.
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (أبو بكر البغدادي)
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (أبو بكر البغدادي), born Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim al-Badri in Iraq in 1971, led ISIS from 2010, declared himself caliph in 2014, and was killed in a US raid in Syria in 2019.