Khalid

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Mohammed was born on 14 April 1965 to Baloch parents in Kuwait. His father, Shaikh Muhammad Ali Dustin al-Baluchi, was a Deobandi imam in Al Ahmadi who moved from Balochistan, Pakistan, to Kuwait in the 1950s. His mother was Halema Mohammed. He was raised in Badawiya, a neighborhood of the Fahaheel suburb of Kuwait City. Mohammed is the uncle of Ramzi Yousef, convicted for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and Ammar Al Baluchi, accused in multiple terror plots. He is one of at least five siblings—four boys and a girl—with brothers named Zahed, Abed, and Aref. Mohammed is fluent in Balochi, Urdu, Arabic, and English. At age 16, he joined the Muslim Brotherhood. After high school in 1983, he traveled to the United States, enrolled at Chowan University in Murfreesboro, North Carolina, then transferred to North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, receiving a BS in mechanical engineering in 1986. He attended the Sada training camp run by Abdallah Azzam and worked for the magazine al-Bunyan al-Marsous. In 1992, he received a master's degree in Islamic Culture and History through correspondence from Punjab University in Pakistan. By 1993, he had married and moved his family to Qatar, working as a project engineer with the Qatari Ministry of Electricity and Water. The 9/11 Commission Report notes that, "By his own account, KSM's animosity toward the United States stemmed not from his experiences there as a student, but rather from his violent disagreement with U.S. foreign policy favoring Israel." However, on 29 August 2009, The Washington Post reported from U.S. intelligence sources that Mohammed's time in the U.S. contributed to his radicalization: "KSM's limited and negative experience in the United States—which included a brief jail stay because of unpaid bills—almost certainly helped propel him on his path to becoming a terrorist."

In Their Own Story

Mohammed traveled to the Philippines in 1994 to work with his nephew Ramzi Yousef on the Bojinka plot, a Manila-based plan to destroy 12 commercial airliners flying routes between the United States, East Asia, and Southeast Asia. He used the aliases "Abdul Majid" and "Salem Ali." The 9/11 Commission Report says "this marked the first time KSM took part in the actual planning of a terrorist operation." Using airline timetables, Mohammed and Yousef devised a scheme whereby five men could board 12 flights in a single day, assemble and deposit bombs, and exit the planes, leaving timers to ignite the bombs up to several days afterward. The math was simple: 12 flights with at least 400 people per flight, somewhere in the neighborhood of 5,000 deaths. In December 1994, Yousef tested a bomb on Philippine Airlines Flight 434 using about ten percent of the explosives intended for the U.S. airliners, resulting in the death of a Japanese national. Mohammed conspired with Yousef until the plot was uncovered on 6 January 1995. Yousef was captured on 7 February 1995. Mohammed was indicted in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in January 1996 for his alleged involvement in Operation Bojinka, and on 10 October 2001 was listed as one of the FBI's 22 Most Wanted Terrorists. In early 1996, he returned to Afghanistan to avoid capture, sheltered by Sheikh Abdullah Al Thani, the Qatari Minister of Religious Affairs. In 1995, he traveled to Sudan, Yemen, Malaysia, and Brazil to visit jihadist communities, though no evidence connects him to specific terrorist actions there. In Sudan, he attempted to meet Osama bin Laden. After the U.S. asked Qatar to arrest him in January 1996, he fled to Afghanistan, renewing his alliance with Abdul Rasul Sayyaf. Later that year, he formed a working relationship with bin Laden. Mohammed Atef arranged a meeting between bin Laden and Mohammed in Tora Bora in mid-1996, where Mohammed outlined a plan that would become the quadruple hijackings in 2001. Bin Laden urged Mohammed to become a full member of al-Qaeda, but he refused until around early 1999, after the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings. In 1997, Mohammed moved his family from Iran to Karachi, Pakistan. He tried unsuccessfully to join mujahideen leader Ibn al-Khattab in Chechnya. He ultimately accepted bin Laden's invitation to move to Kandahar and join al-Qaeda, eventually becoming leader of al-Qaeda's media committee. The first hijack plan he presented called for several airplanes on both U.S. east and west coasts to be hijacked and flown into targets. Bin Laden rejected some potential targets, such as the U.S. Bank Tower in Los Angeles. In late 1998 or early 1999, bin Laden approved Mohammed to organize the plot. Meetings in early 1999 took place with Mohammed, bin Laden, and Mohammed Atef. Bin Laden led the plot, provided financial support, and was involved in selecting participants, including choosing Mohamed Atta.

Reader's Guide

Mohammed is widely regarded as the chief planner of the September 11 attacks. He also participated in planning Richard Reid's shoe bombing attempt to attack an airliner; the 2002 Bali bombings in Indonesia; the 1993 World Trade Center bombing; the murder of Daniel Pearl; and various foiled attacks as well as numerous other crimes. He was charged in February 2008 with war crimes and murder by a U.S. military commission at Guantanamo Bay, which could carry the death penalty if convicted. In 2012, a former military prosecutor criticized the proceedings as insupportable due to confessions gained under torture. A 2008 decision by the United States Supreme Court drew into question the legality of the methods used to gain such admissions. On 30 August 2019, a military judge set a date of 11 January 2021 for Mohammed's death penalty trial. His trial was further postponed on 18 December 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The trial restarted on 7 September 2021 but was postponed again for years of plea deal negotiations. On 31 July 2024, Mohammed agreed to plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence rather than a death-penalty trial. His plea deal was revoked by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin two days later. In July 2025, the plea deal was voided by a D.C. appeals court in a 2–1 ruling.

Did You Know?

• Mohammed is known by at least 50 pseudonyms, including his initials KSM.
• He received a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in 1986.
• He was captured on 1 March 2003 in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, by a combined CIA and ISI operation.
• The 2004 9/11 Commission Report named him 'the principal architect of the 9/11 attacks'.
• On 31 July 2024, he agreed to plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence, but the plea deal was revoked two days later by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.