Al-Qaeda "conference call" prompted US alert
8/7/2013 10:46:29 PM
An intercepted conference call between Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri and his top operatives prompted the United States to close its Middle East diplomatic missions, according to a report Wednesday.
Online journal The Daily Beast, citing US intelligence sources, said more than 20 Al-Qaeda operatives from across the militant group's global network were on the call.
AFP was not immediately able to confirm the report.
In the call, Zawahiri reportedly named the head of the Al-Qaeda branch in Yemen, Nasser al-Wuhayshi, as the operational controller of the group's affiliates throughout the Muslim world.
"This was like a meeting of the Legion of Doom," the Daily Beast quoted a US intelligence officer as saying, referring to a coalition of villains in the cartoon "Super Friends."
Taking part in the call were representatives of Nigeria's Boko Haram, the Pakistani Taliban, Al-Qaeda in Iraq, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and other more obscure affiliates and aspiring affiliates such as Al-Qaeda in the Sinai Peninsula, the report said.
Online journal The Daily Beast, citing US intelligence sources, said more than 20 Al-Qaeda operatives from across the militant group's global network were on the call.
AFP was not immediately able to confirm the report.
In the call, Zawahiri reportedly named the head of the Al-Qaeda branch in Yemen, Nasser al-Wuhayshi, as the operational controller of the group's affiliates throughout the Muslim world.
"This was like a meeting of the Legion of Doom," the Daily Beast quoted a US intelligence officer as saying, referring to a coalition of villains in the cartoon "Super Friends."
Taking part in the call were representatives of Nigeria's Boko Haram, the Pakistani Taliban, Al-Qaeda in Iraq, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and other more obscure affiliates and aspiring affiliates such as Al-Qaeda in the Sinai Peninsula, the report said.