Al Qaeda's 12 most-wanted men on the run in Pakistan
The United States believes that at least a dozen senior leaders of al-Qaeda are on the run in Pakistan, according to Mike Rogers, the chairman of the Congressional Intelligence Committee.
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Ayman al-Zawahri (left) with Osama bin Laden in 1998 Photo: AP
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Saif al-Adel, Egyptian, age around 50 (left) and Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, Kuwaiti, age 45 Photo: PA
By Malcolm Moore 1:03PM BST 03 May 2011
"Of the 20 senior leaders in al-Qaeda, at least a dozen of them we believe to be travelling around Pakistan someplace," he said, arguing that the US should maintain a co-operative relationship with Pakistan in order to pursue the men.
The 12 men include some of al-Qaeda's most senior leaders, including Ayman al-Zawahri, who is Osama bin Laden's presumed heir.
According to the latest intelligence and media reports, they may be:
1. Ayman al-Zawahri. Egyptian. Age 59 – Osama bin Laden's deputy and current operational commander of al-Qaeda, according to the United States State department. Went into hiding with Bin Laden during the US invasion of Afghanistan and managed to survive a US air strike that targeted him in a Pakistani tribal region in January 2006. There is a $25 million reward on his head.
2. Saif al-Adel. Egyptian. Age around 50 - Thought to be a high-ranking member of al-Qaeda, even perhaps the organisation's military chief. He was thought to be in prison in Iran, but has now almost certainly been released and has returned to North Waziristan in Pakistan. There is a $5 million reward on his head.
3. Sulaiman Abu Ghaith. Kuwaiti. Age 45 - Al-Qaida spokesman and radical preacher. Detained in Iran in 2003 but released and allowed to leave the country in 2010, according to Kuwait media. Suspected of having rejoined Bin Laden in Pakistan and is still at large.
4. Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah. Egyptian. Age late 40s - Wanted for the 1998 series of bombings on US embassies in East Africa. Member of al-Qaeda's top council. According to US intelligence he fled Nairobi in 1998 and went to Pakistan, where he may remain at large. He may also be in Iran.
5. Adnan al-Shukri Juma. Saudi. 35 - A younger member of al-Qaeda, Shukri Juma may have risen up the ranks because of the loss of more senior members. He spent time living in the US and may have been behind a failed attempt on the New York subway system. He may be in charge of operations for North America and is thought to be in Waziristan.
6. Rashid Rauf. Dual British Pakistani citizenship. Age around 34 - Rauf is suspected of involvement in the failed attempt in 2006 to blow up aircraft leaving from London Heathrow with liquid explosives. He escaped from Pakistani custody in December 2007 and was reportedly killed by a US drone attack in Pakistan in November 2008. But his family have denied his death and some sources believe he remains at large.
7. Ilyas Kashmiri. Pakistani. Age 47 - Kashmiri is one of the most important figures rising up al-Qaeda's ranks. A one-eyed, red-bearded guerrilla warfare expert, he is thought to have masterminded some of the deadliest attacks in India and Pakistan. He is also the commander of Brigade 313, a unit that is sometimes described as al-Qaeda's Pakistani arm, sometimes as a special combat task force, and sometimes as an independent jihadi unit.
8. Hakimullah Mehsud. Pakistani. Age 32 - Hakimullah Mehsud is the leader of the Tehrik-I-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) movement, which has been described as having a symbiotic relationship with al-Qaeda by the US.
"TTP draws ideological guidance from al-Qaeda while al-Qaeda relies on the TTP for safe haven in the Pashtun areas along the Afghan-Pakistani border," said Daniel Benjamin, a US counterterrorism chief. An aggressive field commander, Mehsud was thought to be killed by a drone attack in January 2010, but subsequent videos proved he survived the attack.
9. Ghulam Mustafa. Pakistani. 40 - Very little has been reported of Mustafa since he was released by Pakistan in 2006. Before then he was thought to be al-Qaeda's chief in Pakistan. However, he was never formally charged or handed over to the US and has quietly disappeared from view. He may have left al-Qaeda, tainted by suspicion of co-operation with Pakistani intelligence.
10. Abu Yahya al-Libi. Libyan. Age 47 - A high-ranking member of al-Qaeda, Libi escaped from an American prison in Afghanistan and is thought to have subsequently survived a US drone strike in Pakistan in 2009. He is considered to be "the scholar" of al-Qaeda and often takes on the role of a preacher. He has released a number of videotaped sermons.
11. Anas al-Liby (also known as Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Raghie), Libyan. Age late 40s - Charged by the US with involvement in the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Has a $5 million reward on his head. Has worked as a computer specialist for al-Qaeda.
12. Qari Saifullah Akhtar. Nationality and age unknown - the leader of the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI, or the Movement of Islamic Holy War), is an alleged member of al-Qaeda who was released by Pakistan from custody last December. He was reported to have trained 3,500 operatives in Afghanistan shortly before the US invasion.
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