In the wake of the death in Pakistan of al Qaeda’s number two, counter-terrorism officials have identified five potential next generation leaders, including three with US connections.
“It would be a mistake for anyone to conclude there is no one on the bench,” NBC quoted one anonymous US official familiar with counter-terrorism strategy as saying. “It’s a thinning bench, but there are still bad guys, with bad aspirations in al Qaeda’s core group in Pakistan.
On Monday, a Predator attack took out al Qaeda number two Abu Yahya al Libi, creating the opening for a jihadist capable of succeeding current leader Ayman al Zawahiri.
According to NBC, counter-terrorism officials have identified the potential next generation successors as:
— Adnan Gulshair el Shukrijumah, a 36-year-old Saudi who reportedly is director of operations for al Qaeda who spent his teenage years in Brooklyn and Broward County, Fla., and reportedly was involved in a 2009 plot to bomb the New York City subway.
— Jaber A. El-Baneh, a 45-year-old Yemeni who lived for a time in Buffalo, and was viewed as the mastermind of the Lackawanna Six plot in 2003 that involved a group of six-Yemeni-American childhood friends convicted of providing material support to al Qaeda.
–Adam Gadahn, a 33-year-old American and al Qaeda strategist who has been charged in California with treason and giving material aid to terrorism.
–Sheikh Khalid Abdur Rahman al-Hussainan, a 45-year-old Kuwaiti who is a cleric and teacher.
— Ali Sayyid Muhamed Mustafa al-Bakri, a 46-year-old Egyptian with explosives and chemical weapons expertise.