Al-Qaida named Ayman Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden’s top
lieutenant and the terrorist group’s frequent spokesman, as its new
leader to succeed the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, who was killed
in a U.S. raid in Pakistan last month.
Zawahiri, an Egyptian surgeon, has been
al-Qaida’s public face for years, sending video and audio messages
threatening attacks against Western targets and attempting to turn
Muslim populations against their governments.
“We ask God for this to be a new era for al-Qaida
under the leadership of Ayman Zawahiri, an era that will purify Muslim
land of every tyrant and infidel,” al-Qaeda said in a statement posted
on a website frequently used by the group.
Intelligence officials have said that bin Laden,
isolated by U.S. efforts to track him, had ceded operational
responsibilities to Zawahiri. The U.S. government is offering a $25
million reward for information leading to Zawahiri, who is believed to
be hiding in southwestern Pakistan or Afghanistan, according to White
House intelligence adviser John Brennan.
Zawahiri, 59, was wanted in the U.S. even before
the 2001 attacks that targeted New York’s World Trade Center and the
Pentagon, killing more than 3,000 people.
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Cheri Fuller and Cindy Lamb Curry 
Marilyn Hickey 
Charisma Staff