THE killing of Osama bin Laden has eliminated al-Qaedas figurehead, but, according to terror analysts, it may have little effect on the organisations day-to-day management. The consensus is that a succession line, which including the following men, could carry on waging terror against the world:AYMAN AL-ZAWAHIRIEgyptian-born doctor and surgeon Ayman al-Zawahiri is the organisations second-in-command and is expected by many commentators to succeed Osama bin Laden immediately.He has worked in the al-Qaeda organisation since its inception and is often described as the brains of the terror group and the September 11 attacks.With Osama bin Laden in hiding following the terrorist attacks in New York in 2001, he was the organisations most public face, repeatedly denouncing the United States and its allies in video messages.He was born into an upper-class family of scholars and doctors in Cairo and he has devoted his life to Islamic theology, history, and jihad.He graduated from Cairo Universitys medical school in 1974 and obtained a masters degree in surgery four years later.He rose to prominence when he was tried along with other radical Islamists for their part in the 1981 assassination of President Anwar Sadat during a Cairo military parade.He was convicted and served a three-year sentence for illegal possession of arms. After his release, he left for Saudi Arabia before travelling to Pakistan and nearby Afghanistan, where he established a faction of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad group.He met Bin Laden in the mid-1980s when both were in Pakistan to support guerrillas fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan.While Bin Laden remained the public face of terror, in recent years his operational role wound down as Zawahiri took over as the brains behind the network.In his most recent video message last month, he urged Muslims to fight NATO and American forces in Libya.Like Bin Laden, Zawahri was born into wealth. He is second after Bin Laden on the FBI most wanted terrorists list, having eluded capture when the Taliban was toppled in Afghanistan in late 2001.He gained prominence in November 2008 when he called President Obama a house negro, a derogatory term used to describe black slaves loyal to white masters.Zawahiri, 60, has long been thought to be hiding along the rugged Afghan-Pakistan border.SAIF AL-ADELSaif Al-Adel: Al-Qaeda senior memberHis name means sword of justice and is the alias of a senior member of al-Qaeda. He is believed to be a member of the organisations military committee.He is a former colonel in the Egyptian army special forces and is accused of helping to mastermind the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.He is also suspected of teaching militants to use explosives and training some of the September 11 hijackers, and is thought to have established a training facility in Somalia.There has been speculation that he has fled Afghanistan to live in Iran. He has been on the FBIs list of most wanted terrorists since 2001.SULAIMAN ABU GHAITHHe was born in Kuwait and is regarded as a spokesman of Al Qaeda. He has appeared on several video and audio-tapes, claiming responsibility for terrorist attacks.He is a former religious studies teacher who first came to prominence during the 1991 Gulf war when he denounced the invasion by Saddam Hussein.He then turned his attention to the Kuwaiti government and royal family, demanding the institution of Sharia law. He was banned from giving sermons and removed from his mosque.In 2000 he left Kuwait for Afghanistan, where he met Osama Bin Laden and joined al-Qaeda. He has been used by the organisation to widen its appeal away from ultra-conservative and mostly elderly clerics to a younger audience.He is one of Americas most wanted al-Qaeda suspects.
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