Al Qaeda retains resilience

To be sure, the government has made significant progress. Several other high-level Al Qaeda members captured in the past have led to additional arrests.

For example, the apprehension of operations chief Abu Zubaydah in March 2002 led to the eventual capture of the cell leader for the 9/11 hijackers, as well as Jose Padilla, suspected of planning a "dirty bomb" attack here in the US. Several others have been rounded up, including Mohammed Omar Abdel-Rahmen, the son of the blind Egyptian cleric who is imprisoned in New York for plots in connection with the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

Still, both Osama bin Laden and his No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, are assumed to be hiding - probably in the tribal area between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

And although the government has arrested or killed several other high-ranking Al Qaeda members, including military chiefs Mohammed Atef and his successor, Abu Zubaydah, others have picked up the mantle to lead additional terrorist strikes.

A senior intelligence official, who has written an extensive survey of the Al Qaeda organization, "Through Our Enemies' Eyes," points out how the network has replenished its leadership corps over the past decade. In mid-1996, Al Qaeda's then military operations chief, Abu Ubaydah al-Banshiri, drowned in an accident in Uganda. At that time, the network had several operations in the planning stages, including the 1998 US Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.

Mohammed Atef quickly stepped in to fill Bansshiri's shoes. And when Atef was killed by US bombing in December 2001, he was replaced by Abu Zubaydah. He in turn was captured in March 2002 in a shootout in Karachi, and Zubaydah's role was believed to have been filled by Saif al-Adel. It is not clear whether Mohammed had replaced al-Adel as No. 3, or if al-Adel is still filling that role.

Al-Adel had been a member of the Egyptian commandos. All the military chiefs - up to now - have come from Egypt, which has one of the strongest military traditions in the region, intelligence officials say.

Mohammed, though, was born to Pakistani parents in Kuwait and was raised and schooled there. And he wasn't suspected of being a high-ranking Al Qaeda member until his name began to come up more frequently over the past year. The first public mention of his role - said to be under al-Adel - was made in June 2002, after Abu Zubaydah began to provide intelligence officers with operational details. "When he popped up in connection with 9/11 attack, it surprised me," says the government official. "His name never popped up except in connection with the 1993 [World Trade Center bombing.] "If we got surprised once with somebody, we could certainly be surprised again."

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