Islamist Claims Al Qaeda Will Have No Problem Replacing Abu Kharab

(Letter from Abu Ubaida)

In an analysis of the recent blow dealt to al Qaeda with the killing of its weapons expert Abu Khabab al Masri, the director of the London-based Maqrizi Center for Historical Studies and former member of the outlawed Egyptian group Islamic Jihad Hani al Sebaei assured that al Qaeda has many successors in place.

"For over 20 years, Abu Khabab has been teaching and training the Mujahideen youths who graduated from his school and became experts in the same field," al-Sebaei said. "He may have dropped the banner, but a whole generation of young believers have picked it up."

In one of the many letters exchanged between Abu Khabab and other al Qaeda leaders and released by West Point 's Counter Terrorism Center, there are indications that of Abu Khabab's efforts to pass on his knowledge to younger militants. In one letter dated March 1988, one of the al Qaeda founders Abu Ubaida al Banshiri asked Abu Khabab to "teach a young mujahed all what you have been taught and achieved."

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