Five key members of Al Qaeda in Yemen (AQAP)

5. Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, the bombmaker

Saudi militant Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri is suspected of constructing the bomb packages mailed out of Yemen and intercepted by authorities in late October in Dubai and Britain.

Mr. Asiri is also suspected in two previous attempted terrorist attacks: one attempted by the “underwear bomber,” a Nigerian man allegedly trained in Yemen who attempted to detonate explosives on a flight to Detroit on Christmas Day last year, and the other an unsuccessful attempt to kill Saudi Arabia’s intelligence chief with a suicide bomber (who was Asiri’s brother).

He is the 28-year-old son of a retired soldier, according to the Guardian:

Asiri was first named on a Saudi Arabian wanted list in February 2009. Not much is known about his early life, other than that he comes from a pious family.

His father, Hassan, told the Saudi Gazette last year: "We were planning to move back to Riyadh, but Abdullah and Ibrahim said they wanted to go to [the holy city of] Medina before returning with us.

"Abdullah later contacted us to say he was out of the country, but did not say where. From that day on we had no more news of him until we saw his and his brother's pictures … in the media on a list of wanted people."

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