UN report: Sayf al-’Adl widely seen as new al-Qaida leader

By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.N. experts say the predominant view among member nations is that the leadership of al-Qaida has passed to Sayf al-’Adl, who was responsible for Osama bin Laden’s security and trained some of the hijackers involved in the 9/11 attack on the U.S. The panel of experts say in a report to the U.N. Security Council circulated Monday that no announcement has been made of Sayf al-’Adl replacing Ayman al-Zawahri, who was killed by a U.S. drone strike in Kabul last August. But it says that in discussions in November and December many U.N. member states “took the view that Sayf al-’Adl is already operating as the de facto and uncontested leader of the group.”