Special forces closing in on al Zawahri 'for weeks'

Pakistani and US special forces have been reportedly closing in for weeks on the top echelons of the al-Qaida terror network.

Tonight, Pakistani officials said they had cornered Osama bin Laden’s right-hand man Ayman al Zawahri on the Afghan border.

Western officials are trying to determine whether bin Laden himself is near to al Zawahri.

The pair have been seen together before and there have been reports al Zawahri, a medical doctor, has been treating bin Laden’s medical conditions.

For weeks there have been suggestions troops were closing in on bin Laden.

It was reported recently that Pakistani troops narrowly missed apprehending him on the Afghan border.

And US forces are reportedly planning a “spring offensive” against al Qaida, using special forces and state-of-the-art surveillance devices to hunt the terror chief down.

Most security experts agree al Zawahri is unlikely to be taken alive.

And if he were to be killed, and removed from the number two spot in al-Qaida, it would be a blow to the network.

But top US Administration officials and other experts have warned that even if he were killed – and even if bin Laden were killed – it would not signify the end of the terror group which plotted the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.

National security adviser Condoleezza Rice said it would be a “major step forward” for the war on terror if al Zawahri were eliminated.

But she cautioned: “Everybody has to be careful not to assume that getting one al Qaida leader is going to break up the organisation.

“We have always said even with Osama bin Laden, who we would all like to see brought to justice, that that will not be the end of al Qaida.

“They have local leadership, other national leadership. We have to dismantle the entire leadership, not just one person,” she said.

CNN security analyst Ken Robinson said al Zawahri and bin Laden were often “connected at the hip”, raising the spectre the terror leader could also be cornered.

“It would be likely that they would be near each other because of their close relationship,” he said.

But former National Security Council director Dan Benjamin said the killing or capture of al Zawahri, or even bin Laden, would be more “symbolic” than practical in America’s war on terror.

“If we got either bin Laden or al Zawahri it would show the United States ultimately does track down and get its enemies,” he told CNN.

“As a practical matter in terms of the war on terror, I think the effect would probably be somewhat limited.”

He went on: “In many ways the war on terror has moved away from what was the core of al Qaida.

“Al Qaida is still very much there, but in a sense we are witnessing a new generation of jihadists coming to the fore.”