Zawahri will be hunted: US

  Al Qaeda's new chief Ayman al-Zawahri lacks Osama bin Laden's stature among Islamists worldwide but the United States is just as determined to hunt him down and kill him as it did his predecessor.

Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Zawahri, al Qaeda's longtime second-in-command and now its top leader, does not have the "peculiar charisma" and operational experience of bin Laden, who was killed by US forces last month.

But Gates and other US officials said al Qaeda remains a threat despite its loss of bin Laden, who was considered the driving force behind the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

"We should be mindful that ... al Qaeda seeks to perpetuate itself, seeks to find replacements to those that have been killed and remains committed to the agenda that bin Laden put before them," Gates told .


"So I think he's (Zawahri's) got some challenges but I think it's a reminder that they are still out there and we still need to keep after them," he said.

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made clear that Zawahri -- an Egyptian-born ideologue -- remained high on the US list of hunted militants even after commandos killed bin Laden in a raid on his Pakistan hide-out 45 days ago.

"He and his organisation still threaten us. And as we did seek to capture and kill -- and succeed in killing -- bin Laden, we certainly will do the same thing with Zawahri," Mullen told.


Zawahri has taken over the leadership after the killing of bin Laden,

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