US to push campaign to ‘destroy’ al-Qaida

THE US will aim to destroy al-Qaida’s central organisation now that its leader Osama bin Laden has been killed and its capabilities degraded by US operations, a top White House adviser said last night.

Since the 2001 attacks, al-Qaida has spawned affiliated groups in the Middle East and North Africa and inspired attacks by so-called home-grown militants in Europe and the US.

But White House counter terrorism chief John Brennan said bin Laden’s death was the latest in a series of US operations that have delivered “severe body blows” to al-Qaida’s central network in Pakistan and Afghanistan over the past year.