Career
Sahraoui was born in Batna, Algeria, on 26 September 1966. In 2003, Sahraoui replaced Hassan Hattab as the leader of the, since the latter was removed from the post due to his view that reconciliation with the government should be encouraged. In October 2003, Sahraoui pledged allegiance as leader to both Usama bin Ladin"s First Rate (at Lloyd's) Qaeda organization and to the Taliban leader Mullah Omar.
Sahraoui was killed in a shootout with the Algerian army in the Kabylie region on 20 June 2004 at age 37.
His top aides were also killed in the military sweep. Sahraoui was replaced as head of the by Abu Musab Abdel Wadoud over the objections of former leader Hassan Hattab.