At the same time, Al Qaida appears to have lost its steam in Iraq. The
report said Al Qaida strikes, mostly suicide bombings, in Iraq dropped
slightly between 2006 and 2007.
"There was a notable reduction in the number of security incidents
throughout much of Iraq, including a decrease in civilian casualties, enemy
attacks, and improvised explosive devices attacks in the last quarter of the
year," the report said. "Terrorist organizations and insurgent groups
continued their attacks on coalition and Iraqi security forces using IEDs,
vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices and suicide bombers."
[On Thursday, a leading Al Qaida commander, Aden Hashi Ayro, was said to
have been killed in an air strike in Somalia. At the same time, another Al
Qaida regional chief, Isnilon Hapilon, was injured in an artillery attack in
the Philippines.]
"It has reconstituted some of its pre-9/11 operational capabilities
through the exploitation of Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas,
replacement of captured or killed operational lieutenants, and the
restoration of some central control by its top leadership, in particular
Ayman Al Zawahiri," the report said.
The State Department concluded that Al Zawahiri has become Al Qaida's
"strategic and operational planner." Al Zawahiri, an Egyptian national, has
been regarded as No. 2 in Al Qaida.
"The ability of these attackers to penetrate large concentrations of
people and then detonate their explosives may account for the increase in
lethality of bombings in 2007," the report said.
