Haji Bakr

Haji Bakr
Birth name	Samir Abd Muhammad al-Khlifawi
Nickname(s)	'Knight of the Silencers'[1] 'Lord of the Shadows'[2]
Born	ca. 1958–1964[2] Iraq
Died	January 2014 (late fifties)[2] Tell Rifaat, Syria
Allegiance	Baathist Iraq (unknown–2003) Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad (2003–2004) Al-Qaeda (2004–2013) Al-Qaeda in Iraq (2004–2006) Mujahideen Shura Council (January–October 2006) Islamic State of Iraq (2006–2013) Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (2013–2014)
Service/branch	Iraqi Army (until 2003) ISIL military (8 April 2013 – January 2014)
Rank	Colonel (until 2003) ISIL Military Chief and overall leader of ISIL in Syria (April 2010 – January 2014)[3]
Battles/wars	1991 Iraq War 2003 Iraq War Iraqi insurgency Syrian Civil War Inter-rebel conflict during the Syrian Civil War †

Samir Abd Muhammad al-Khlifawi (c. 1958-1964 – January 2014), better known by the pseudonym Haji Bakr and sometimes his kunya Abu Bakr al-Iraqi,^[4] was a senior leader of the militant group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), heading its Military Council and leading its operations in Syria, prior to his killing by Syrian rebels in January 2014.^[2][5] Previously a Colonel in the Iraqi Intelligence Service, papers found after his death indicated that al-Khlifawi played a key role in devising the plans ISIL used to conquer and administer territory in Syria and Iraq.^[2]