British special forces are ready to hunt down the new Osama bin Laden – backed by a £450million funding windfall.
Our elite units – including the SAS and SBS – will join crack US squads to find Ayman al-Zawahiri, who succeeded the 9-11 warlord as al-Qaeda chief.
The move follows the disclosure that the terror group is planning a series of atrocities in the UK and Europe.
Funding from the Government’s £24.1billion defence budget will now bolster a new counter-terrorist task force including the US Navy Seals and Delta Force – the American SAS.
The troops will work on intelligence from spooks at GCHQ, MI6 and the CIA in the worldwide hunt for a number of crucial targets.
Egyptian doctor Al-Zawahiri, Bin Laden’s right-hand man, and Saif al-Adel, an ex-Egyptian army general and explosives expert, are top of the list.
Last month Scotland Yard revealed police had thwarted three terror plots in the UK since the start of lockdown.
More than 28 plans have been foiled since 2017.
British and US special forces have worked successfully together before.
In 2006 they formed Task Force Black and tracked down and killed the head of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
His terrorist sidekick Al-Zawahiri, 69, was rumoured to have died of asthma in an Afghan mountain hideout last year – but may still be alive.
He became head of al-Qaeda after former leader Osama bin Laden was shot dead in Pakistan by US Navy Seals in May 2011.
Al-Adel, 60, is believed to have taken part in the 1998 US embassy bomb attacks in Kenya.
A source said: “Al-Zawahiri and Al-Adel are A-list terrorists.
“Al-Adel is now emerging as the inspiration behind al-Qaeda and the driving force, possibly because Al-Zawahiri may actually be dead.”
Colonel Richard Kemp, a former commander of British troops in Afghanistan, monitored the activities of Al-Adel while working for the Joint Intelligence Committee between 2002 and 2006.
He warned: “He was recognised then as being a very significant figure in al-Qaeda – in the top three or five. He is probably the top one now with the demise of Bin Laden and potential demise of Zawahiri.
"His importance is even greater and more dangerous.
“Compared to Zawahiri he is likely to be a much more effective leader – at least so or even more so than Bin Laden.
“Crucially he is also respected among Islamic State.
“He could entice ISIS members to join al-Qaeda or cause some kind of fusion between the two.”
The £450m defence fund boost will increase the budgets of the UK Special Forces Group – which consists of the SAS, SBS, the Special Forces Reconnaissance Regiment and Defence Human Intelligence.
The move makes the group one of the Armed Forces’ main winners in a defence review which will increase Britain’s nuclear capability.
While some troops are expected to be axed in cuts due to be announced on Tuesday, the crack units are set to be given a wider role targeting terrorists in a bid to keep UK streets safe.
The Ministry of Defence does not comment on special forces.
