Osama Bin Laden's deputy led U.S. troops to the Al Qaeda leader's hideout so he could take over the terrorist group, it was claimed today.
Egyptian Ayman Al Zawahiri, who has been touted widely as the man who will succeed Bin Laden as the head of Al Qaeda, turned his back on his terrorist leader following a prolonged power struggle, according to a Saudi newspaper.
The plot to get rid of Bin Laden began when Zawahiri’s faction persuaded bin Laden to leave the protection of the tribal areas along the Afghan-Pakistan border.
Power struggle: This photograph from October
2001, one month after 9/11, shows Osama Bin Laden alongside his top
lieutenant, Egyptian Ayman Al Zawahiri
Zawahiri's Egyptian ally Saif Al Adel is said to have moved to Pakistan last autumn as Al Qaeda's 'chief of staff' after a period of house arrest in Iran.
With his return, Al Qaeda's Egyptian faction then hatched a plan to dispose of Saudi-born Bin Laden after irresolvable divisions developed between the terrorist group's top two men.
Judas? Al Qaeda's number two Ayman Al Zawahiri is said to have tipped off U.S. troops about the whereabouts of Bin Laden
The courier who led U.S. forces to Bin Laden was a Pakistani national working for Zawahiri, according to the source.
The man is said to have known he was being followed by American troops and to have intentionally led them to their target.
Zawahiri met Bin Laden in the mid-1980s and they have since became the closest of allies, with analysts describing Zawahri as Al Qaeda's chief organiser and bin Laden's closest mentor.
Compound: The walled lair where Osama Bin Laden was killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan
Scene: The bloodied room inside the compound where Bin Laden was killed by U.S. troops in Abbottabad, Pakistan
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1384358/Osama-Bin-Laden-dead-Al-Qaeda-power-struggle-led-Zawahiri-turn-leader.html#ixzz1Lh0hkRJs
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