Osama bin Laden making a video at his compound in Pakistan before being killed by United States Navy SEALs. Photo: wiki commons.

Telegraph – The death of al-Qaeda’s founder on 2 May last year accelerated its decline into what one official called a “headless” network.

The fact that bin Laden met his end in Pakistan also showed how a region once considered al-Qaeda’s heartland has become its graveyard. Most of those who planned the attacks on September 11 have succumbed to the most intense counter-terrorism campaign in history, with regular missile strikes by US Predator drones taking the heaviest toll. Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden’s official successor, is one of the few surviving members of his original circle.

Read full story.