[b]Al-Qaeda names Bin Laden’s
successor
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June 16, 2011
News
Al-Qaeda has selected its longtime No. 2 to
succeed Osama bin Laden following last
month ’s U.S. commando raid that killed the
terror leader, according to a statement
posted Thursday on a web site affiliated
with the network.
Ayman al-Zawahri, who will turn 60 next
week, is the son of an upper middle class
Egyptian family of doctors and scholars.
His father was a pharmacology professor
at Cairo University ’s medical school and his
grandfather was the grand imam of Al-
Azhar University, a premier center of
religious study,
In the statement, al-Qaeda “announces that
Sheikh Dr Ayman al-Zawahiri, may God
guide him, assumed responsibility as the
group ’s amir”.
Al-Qaeda gave no details about the
selection process for bin Laden ’s successor
but said that it was the best tribute to the
memory of its “martyrs.”
Zawahiri is believed by some to have been
the “operational brains” behind the 9/11
attacks on the US.
He was Bin Laden’s deputy for years and
warned just over a week ago that Bin
Laden would continue to “terrify” the US
from beyond the grave.[/b]