US official: Zawahri announcement is genuine

The US government believes an online announcement that Ayman al Zawahri is the new al Qaeda leader is genuine, a US counter-terrorism official said on Thursday.

The official told Reuters US authorities saw as genuine a statement posted on a website that the Egyptian-born veteran militant had taken over from Osama bin Laden, shot dead in a US raid on his hideout in Pakistan on May 2. Asked if the government saw the message as authentic, the official replied: "Yes." (Reuters)