Al-Qaeda has appointed an Egyptian militant as temporary leader and named a new head of operations following the killing of Osama bin Laden, al-Jazeera said today, citing Pakistani security sources.
The Arab satellite channel said Saif al-Adel was named interim leader and Mohammed Mustafa al-Yemeni, whose surname hints he is from Yemen, would direct operations.
"According to the sources, the decision (on the appointments) was made at a meeting on May 10th on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border," said the channel, which was the main conduit for bin Laden to release messages to the media.
US special forces killed the al-Qaeda leader bin Laden in his hideout outside the capital of Pakistan on May 2nd.
"I think it's more for show than anything else. It is to illustrate to the world that they have a temporary leader," Dubai-based security analyst Theodore Karasik said of Adel.
"Adel clearly has operational experience but he does not have the intellectual or charismatic side that bin Laden had."
Adnan al-Khairi al-Masri was named al-Qaeda's general command head, while Mohammed Nasser al-Wahshi would be Africa chief, Mohammed Adam Khan, an Afghan, would be in charge in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and Fahd al-Iraqi would be responsible for the Afghan-Pakistani border region, Al-Jazeera added.
US prosecutors say Adel is one of al-Qaeda's leading military commanders and helped plan the 1998 bomb attacks on the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. They also say he set up al-Qaeda training camps in Sudan and Afghanistan in the 1990s.
But reports have suggested Adel viewed the September 11th attacks as a mistake and criticised bin Laden over them.
Reuters