Shadowy Trail of al-Qaida in Iraq Leader

This photo released by the U.S. Military at a press conference in Baghdad, Iraq Thursday, June 15, 2006, purports to show Abu Ayyub al-Masri who is the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq. Iraqi officials have received reports Tuesday May 1, 2007, that the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq was killed by Sunni tribesmen, but the chief government spokesman said Tuesday the information has not been confirmed. (AP Photo/U.S. Military) (AP)

FARM-E-CHAR, Afghanistan -- At the end of a dirt track _ shaded by trees planted by Arab fighters _ Islamic militants gathered in the early 1990s to drill in guerrilla tactics and hear lectures about threats to Muslims around the world.

A soft-spoken Egyptian known as Abu Ayub al-Masri stood out among them.

He had already risen through the ranks of Islamic Jihad in his homeland. He then helped train mujahadeen brigades that drove the Red Army from Afghanistan in 1989 and galvanized a generation of Islamic extremists, including Osama bin Laden.

Al-Masri's long talks on holy war captivated young Muslims _ perhaps some who would later join him fighting U.S.-led forces under the banner of al-Qaida in Iraq.

Now, U.S. and Iraqi authorities are struggling to learn whether al-Masri's life at arms ended in the desert west of Baghdad. The reports of his death, which emerged Tuesday, have so far amounted to a pile of riddles.

Iraq's Interior Ministry said Wednesday it attempted to retrieve the remains claimed to be al-Masri _ also is known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajer _ but that its agents were blocked because the area was under al-Qaida control.

A group allied to al-Qaida, the Islamic State of Iraq, posted a Web statement that al-Masri was "alive and still fighting the enemy of God."

Such contradictions and cloudiness are nothing new concerning al-Masri. Accounts about his path to Iraq _ and even details such as his precise birthplace _ are covered in a thick patina of rumors and myths.

But the places along the way read like a list of extremist hotbeds over the past decades: the militant underground in Egypt, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq _ where he assumed leadership of al-Qaida after his charismatic predecessor, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed by a U.S. airstrike last June.

In fact, many experts believe al-Masri has intentionally remained in the shadows, choosing to be more of an operational commander rather than try to carry on al-Zarqawi's firebrand style.

"I don't think (al-Masri) felt it was necessary to create a personality cult for himself in the same way that al-Zarqawi did," said Ted Carpenter, vice president for defense and foreign studies at the Cato Institute in Washington. "He concluded that he'd be more effective without creating an image for himself."

Peter Bergen, who interviewed bin Laden and wrote a book about the al-Qaida leader, said of al-Masri: "It's striking to me what a low profile he has kept."