Ayman al-Zawahri succeeds Bin Laden as head of al-Qaida

Osama bin Laden's long-time lieutenant Ayman al-Zawahri has taken command of Al-Qaeda after the killing of the group's founder and leader, an Islamist website said on Thursday. Bin Laden was killed in a US commando raid in Pakistan last month. Al-Zawahri, who will turn 60 next week, had been bin Laden's second in command. Zawahri is the son of an upper middle class Egyptian family of doctors and scholars. His father was a pharmacology professor at Cairo University's medical school and his grandfather was the grand imam of Al-Azhar University, a premier center of religious study.