Osama bin Laden's second-in-command Dr Ayman al-Zawahiri's succession as the new al-Qaeda chief has not only put renewed American pressure on Pakistan for "credible intelligence-sharing" about his possible whereabouts, but also raised concerns about fresh terror attacks in Pakistan, which is already struggling to balance domestic politics with a deteriorating relationship with the United States.
Well-informed diplomatic sources in Islamabad say senior American intelligence officials have sought help from their Pakistani counterparts to track down Zawahiri, thinking that he may be hiding somewhere in an urban locality of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, as had been the case with Bin Laden, who was hunted down by American raiders in Abbottabad on May 2.
Though the American raid has strained already prickly Pakistan-US ties, the Barack Obama administration is adamant to hunt down remaining al-Qaeda fugitives believed to be hiding in Pakistan, especially Zawahiri. While seeking intelligence-sharing, senior American intelligence officials have reportedly provided to their Pakistani counterparts a list of over two dozen high-value al-Qaeda and Taliban targets allegedly sheltering in Pakistan.
The list contains the names of many of those people who are on the US Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI's) list of most-wanted terror suspects, although the US Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA's) and the FBI's lists are prepared independently.
