Battered Qaeda leaders may move out of Pak: CIA

Killing of top Al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan in recent past has shaken the sense of security of the terrorist leaders in Af-Pak tribal areas, a development which could encourage them to move to other parts of the world, a top Central Intelligence Agency official said Tuesday.

"These setbacks have shaken Al Qaeda's sense of security in Pakistan's tribal areas, driving the remaining leaders underground to varying degrees and shifting a good bit of attention from terrorist plotting to security and survival," CIA Director David Petraeus told lawmakers at a Congressional hearing referring to the recent killing of senior Al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan.

"In fact, some mid-level leaders and rank-and-file Al Qaeda members may seek safe haven across the border in Afghanistan or decide to leave South Asia," he said, adding that some other senior leaders may assess that it is riskier to move and remain in Pakistan's tribal areas where trusted facilitators offer limited freedom of movement, but where their security will still be threatened.

"It will be more difficult for Al Qaeda to attract and accommodate would-be jihadists wanting to travel to the tribal areas of Pakistan," Petraeus said, adding all of this amounts again to a window of vulnerability for core Al Qaeda and a window of opportunity for the US and its allies.

"We must maintain the pressure and exploit this opportunity," he said. Petraeus said for more than a decade, Al Qaeda's senior leadership and core organization in Pakistan and Afghanistan have been capable of planning and executing dangerous plots targeting the west.

"As a result of sustained counterterrorism efforts, a substantial number with our partners in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the core part of Al Qaeda's organisation is much weaker and less capable than when it attacked us on 9/11," he said.

"Osama bin Laden's death in May dealt a stunning blow to Al Qaida. Bin Laden was, of course, an iconic figure, the group's only leader since its founding. We know now that he was deeply involved until the end in directing Al Qaeda's operations and strategy, more deeply involved, in fact, than many assessed before we were able to exploit the materials found with him," he said.

"Bin Laden's long-time deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, succeeded him in June, but much of Al Qaeda's support base finds Zawahiri less compelling as a leader. We thus assess that he will have more difficulty than did bin Laden in maintaining the group's cohesion and its collective motivation in the face of continued pressure," he said.

"The layer of top lieutenants under bin Laden and Zawahiri, the group responsible for day-to-day management of Al Qaeda and its operations, have sustained significant losses in recent years as well. These losses have been especially severe among terrorist plotters, paramilitary commanders, trainers and bomb-makers," Petraeus said.

Recently, Pakistan announced the capture, with US assistance, of Younis al-Mauritani, a senior Al Qaeda operative who was involved in planning attacks against the interests of the United States and other countries.

Last month, Al Qaeda lost its second-in-command and senior operational coordinator, Atiyah Abdul Rahman.