DUBAI: Saif al-Adel, a former Egyptian special forces officer and a high-ranking member of al-Qaida with a $10 million US bounty on his head, is now the “uncontested” leader of the militant group, according to a new UN report on the organisation. Al-Qaida has not formally named a successor for Ayman al-Zawahiri, who was believed to have been killed in a US missile strike in Kabul last year, dealing a blow to the organisation since its founder Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011. Although a US intelligence official said in January that Zawahiri’s succession remained unclear, the UN report said: “In discussions in November and December, many member states took the view that Saif al Adel is already operating as the de facto and uncontested leader of the group”.
Unlike his slain predecessors who maintained a high profile with fiery videos broadcast around the globe threatening the US, the experts say Adel planned attacks from the shadows as he helped turn Qaida into the world’s deadliest militant group. Adel was indicted and charged in 1998 by aUS federal grand jury for his role in the bomb attacks on the US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya that killed 224 civilians and wounded over 5,000. There are few photos of him, aside from three pictures. Beyond the operations in Africa, his training camps and link to the killing of US journalist Daniel Pearl in Pakistan in 2002, according to US investigators, little else is known about Adel.
The US state department says Adel is based in Iran. The department’s Rewards for Justice programme says Adel is amember of “al-Qaida’s leadership council”. In a message on Twitter on Wednesday, the Iranian mission to the UN denied Adel was in Iran. “It is worth noting that the address for the so-called newly appointed al-Qaida leader is incorrect. This misinformation could potentially hinder efforts to combat terrorism. ”
Unlike his slain predecessors who maintained a high profile with fiery videos broadcast around the globe threatening the US, the experts say Adel planned attacks from the shadows as he helped turn Qaida into the world’s deadliest militant group. Adel was indicted and charged in 1998 by aUS federal grand jury for his role in the bomb attacks on the US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya that killed 224 civilians and wounded over 5,000. There are few photos of him, aside from three pictures. Beyond the operations in Africa, his training camps and link to the killing of US journalist Daniel Pearl in Pakistan in 2002, according to US investigators, little else is known about Adel.
The US state department says Adel is based in Iran. The department’s Rewards for Justice programme says Adel is amember of “al-Qaida’s leadership council”. In a message on Twitter on Wednesday, the Iranian mission to the UN denied Adel was in Iran. “It is worth noting that the address for the so-called newly appointed al-Qaida leader is incorrect. This misinformation could potentially hinder efforts to combat terrorism. ”