Yemen al-Qaeda the most dangerous, warns CIA director

The Yemen offshoot of al-Qaeda has emerged as the "most dangerous" affiliate of the group, David Petraeus, the new CIA director, has warned.

The threat from even a weakened core al-Qaeda remains a concern for the United States a decade after the September 11 attacks, but the group's vulnerability offers a window of opportunity, Mr Petraeus said in prepared testimony for a joint House-Senate intelligence committee hearing.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, known as AQAP, was behind the December 2009 plot to blow up a US airliner as it approached Detroit and a 2010 effort to send bombs hidden in computer printers on two cargo aircraft that were found at East Midlands airport in the UK, he said. US-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki is one of its leading figures.

Political unrest in Yemen has helped AQAP "co-opt local tribes and extend its influence," Mr Petraeus said.

"Despite all of this, counter-terrorism cooperation with Yemen has, in fact, improved in the past few months," he said. "That is very important, as we clearly have to intensify our collaboration and deny AQAP the safe haven that it seeks to establish."

Al-Qaeda's affiliates have their own command structures, resources, and operational agendas, and largely operate autonomously, Mr Petraeus said.

But Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's death in May was a "stunning blow" to the group and his successor, Ayman al-Zawahri, is considered "less compelling as a leader" by the group's followers. "We thus assess that he will have more difficulty than did Osama bin Laden in maintaining the group's cohesion and its collective motivation in the face of continued pressure.

"A vulnerable core al-Qaeda amounts to a window of opportunity for us and our allies."

At the same hearing, James Clapper, the National Intelligence Director, said AQAP was clearly a "determined enemy", citing the 2009 airliner plot.

His comments came as al-Qaeda released a video applauding the Arab Spring uprisings to mark the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

Zawahiri, who took control of al-Qaeda after the killing of Osama bin Laden, said he hoped the revolutionaries would found Islamic states.

"America is denying the fact that it is not facing individuals or groups but the whole ummah [Muslim community] of Islam," he said. "After the martyrdom of Sheikh Osama, the Islamic face of the revolutions was shown.

"America's arrogant nature will push it to deny the facts that it is facing a rising ummah and that it may be a cause of defeat and its fall."