The new generation of Al Qaida remains secret and unknown to international intelligence services, an Al Qaida website last week reported.
Islamic writer Uways Bradley wrote Sept. 22 on a Global Islamic Media Front website that Al Qaida was expanding worldwide and has not been diminished by U.S.-led counterterrorism efforts.
“Al Qaida is here to stay,” he said, noting that many members of the first generation Al Qaida are known to “Crusaders” and their followers.
However, the next generation of Al Qaida is still secret.
“The new generation is a mercurial generation in every measure,” he said. “This creates a serious security and political crisis. For example, the blessed attacks in London were carried out by heroes who were not previously known, and so were the attacks of Madrid and the Arabian Peninsula.”
Bradley said the United States has “limited knowledge” of the identities of current Al Qaida leaders and noted confusion among U.S. intelligence agencies about the successor to Al Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi prior to the naming of Abu-Hamza al-Mohajer.
Meanwhile, Pakistan has learned that the Al Qaida leader involved in the plot to blow up jetliners flying from London to the Untied States is hiding in northeastern Afghanistan and has been moving between Nuristan and Konar provinces bordering Pakistan. The name of the operative was not revealed publicly, but he was an Arab and aide to Ayman Al Zawahiri. Rashid Rauf, who was arrested in Pakistan and is a key figure in the foiled plot, disclosed his identity.
The investigation revealed that Al Zawahiri, Al Qaida’s No. 2 leader, approved the plot.
