NEW LEADERS At a glance

Intelligence officials have focused on six emerging Al-Qaida leaders. The following descriptions are based on interviews with U.S. and European intelligence analysts, U.S. law enforcement officials and terrorism experts.
Saif al-Adel: An Egyptian and a member of Al-Qaida's "security committee" for several years, he is viewed as the new military leader for the remnants of Al-Qaida and the Taliban in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region. He took over as chief of military operations late last year, after U.S. bombs killed Muhammad Atef, Al-Qaida's military commander.
Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah: Another Egyptian, he has become Al-Qaida's chief financial officer, at least in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Abdullah, about 40 years old, joined the Egyptian Islamic Jihad and traveled to Afghanistan in the late 1980s. He was among the 480 Arab combatants who joined bin Laden when he moved to Sudan in 1991.
Abu Musab Zarqawi: A Jordanian, Zarqawi has traveled extensively in the Arab world since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, including to Baghdad for medical treatment after losing a leg. Zarqawi has also traveled to Iran, Syria and Lebanon during the past year and is trained in the use of poisons and toxins.
Riduan Isamuddin: An Indonesian known as Hambali, he is Al-Qaida's liaison to loose-knit radical Islamic groups in Southeast Asia -- and one non-Arab who seems to have been given authority to make independent decisions.
Tawfiq bin Atash: Known as Khallad, Atash is either Saudi or Yemeni, and is believed to have lost a leg in combat in Afghanistan. He may now be in Pakistan. In recent months he served as a trainer, along with Binalshibh, of the group that plotted suicide attacks in the Strait of Gibraltar. "This is a major-league killer who orchestrated the Cole attack and possibly the Africa bombings," wrote a CIA officer two months before the Sept. 11 attacks.
Rahim al-Nashri: A Yemeni often called al-Makki, he is described as Atash's "handler" within Al-Qaida for the Cole attack. He is now in Yemen, U.S. officials said, under the protection of tribesmen there.