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| “ | And no, I didn't keep you alive just to gloat. Your beheading will make a b-tch of a video. Maybe we'll even do you nude. That'd put the fear of Allah in you. | „ |
| ~ Threatening Natalie Stack. |
| “ | My own masters will be pleased. You've given me my trigger, and so Empire City dies. | „ |
| ~ Preparing to detonate his weapon; also his last words. |
The Al-Qaeda Leader is the main antagonist of the controversial graphic novel Holy Terror, although he only makes one brief appearance at the climax. He is an Islamic terrorist who appears to be the head of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda, although he is actually a minor agent of a vast conspiracy that even he is unaware of the extent of.
Biography[]
The Al-Qaeda leader is the head of the Muslim terror group Al-Qaeda, succeeding the group's real-life leader Osama bin Laden following the latter's death. As an Islamic terrorist his goal is to destroy the West, particularly America, in a holy war. Al-Qaeda are actually a tiny part of a shadowy organisation, the true extent and purposes of which are unknown even to the leader himself. All he knows is that the conspiracy is so vast that even bin Laden was "a slave beneath a slave".
During Holy Terror, the leader is revealed to be based in an ancient underwater settlement near Empire City, accessed via secret tunnels beneath the city's oldest mosque. He plots to carry out an attack even more devastating than 9/11 that will wipe out everybody in Empire City, which he considers a city of decadence that spits in the face of Allah. With the help of mercenaries from Russia and Ireland, he and his followers begin assembling a chemical weapon beneath the mosque that releases vast amounts of poison gas, condemning its victims to an agonising and gruesome death.
Holy Terror[]
The nameless leader's attack on Empire City commences with a series of devastating suicide bombings across the city, leading to countless deaths and injuries. The bombings are carried out with nail bombs in order to inflict maximum casualties on the people. The bombings are investigated by a vigilante called the Fixer, who is mysteriously knowledgeable about Al-Qaeda's capabilities and inner workings.
Due to issues with the technology needed for the weapon being constructed, the leader needs to continue the attacks on Empire City. He thus deploys stinger missiles to shoot down medical helicopters trying to rescue the injured. The leader also orders military jets armed with similar missiles to fire on and destroy the city's statue of Lady Justice to further demoralise and destroy the city.
Eventually, the Fixer and Natalie Stack manage to track Al-Qaeda to their headquarters, and Natalie kills the Irish mercenary assembling the machine before he can attach the detonator. When she tries to escape, she is captured by terrorists who bring her to the leader. The leader explains that Al-Qaeda is "a tiny part of an organism so vast as to be beyond belief" before gloating that he intends to murder her in a beheading video, even implying that he will sexually assault her first. He forces her to give up the detonator for the now-completed machine and attaches it, declaring that Empire City is about to die. Just then, the Fixer arrives and shoots the Al-Qaeda leader, blowing his arm off and seemingly killing him, before slaughtering the rest of the terrorists.