Saif al-Adel - the new Al-Qaeda chief

Al-Qaeda has chosen a former Egyptian special forces officer as interim leader after the killing of Osama bin Laden, CNN has reported. Saif al-Adel, a top al-Qaeda strategist and military leader, has been tapped as 'caretaker' chief of the group, CNN said, citing the former Libyan militant Noman Benotman, who has renounced al-Qaeda's ideology.

Pakistan's The News corroborated the report, citing unnamed sources in an article datelined Rawalpindi, a city near the capital, Islamabad, that is home to the military headquarters of the Pakistani Armed Forces.

The decision to choose Adel, also known as Muhamad Ibrahim Makkawi, came as militants grew increasingly restive over the lack of a formal successor to bin Laden, who was killed in a dramatic US commando raid in Abbottabad in Pakistan on May 2, Mr Benotman told CNN.

Bin Laden's long-time deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri, another Egyptian, is considered to be his presumed successor.

Mr Benotman said the appointment of Adel on a temporary basis may be a way for the group to gauge reaction to having someone from outside the Muslim holy region of the Arabian peninsula at the helm.