Al Qaeda has appointed an Egyptian militant as temporary leader and named a new head of operations following the killing of Osama bin Laden by US commandos, al Jazeera reported on Wednesday, citing its own correspondent. CNN, citing former Libyan militant Noman Benotman, who has renounced Al Qaeda’s ideology, also reported that Saif al-Adel, top Al Qaeda strategist and senior military leader, has been tapped as “caretaker” chief of the group.
In a brief news flash, the Arab satellite channel, al Jazeera said Adel was named interim leader and Mustafa al-Yemeni, whose surname hints he is from Yemen, would direct operations. Al Jazeera is seen as having good contacts with militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan and was the main conduit for bin Laden to release messages to the media. “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.” US prosecutors say Adel is one of Al Qaeda’s leading military commanders and helped plan the bomb attacks on the American embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in 1998. 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 11 attacks as a mistake and criticised bin Laden over them. Mustafa Alani, a political analyst based in Dubai, said he doubted Adel had taken on a temporary leadership role, citing past disputes between Adel and the charismatic Saudi leader. “This man was an opponent of bin Laden and the September 11 attacks. He criticised bin Laden personally, describing him as a dictator who took decisions without referring to his colleagues,” he said.
Adel was believed to have fled to Iran after the US invasion of Afghanistan following 9/11 and was subsequently held under a form of house arrest there, according to some media reports.
