Al-Qaida invites questions for al-Zawahri

CAIRO, Egypt -- Al-Qaida has invited journalists to send questions to its No. 2 figure, Ayman al-Zawahri, in the first such offer by the increasingly media-savvy terror network to "interview" one of its leaders since the Sept. 11 attacks.

The invitation is a new twist in al-Qaida's campaign to reach a broader audience, and represents an attempt by al-Zawahri to present himself as a sophisticated leader rather than a mass murderer.

"I think their media capability is sophisticated as ever," said Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert and professor at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. "It shows how this group with seventh-century ideology is exploiting 21st-century media capabilities."

The advertisement, issued by the group's media arm Al-Sahab on an Islamic militant Web site, invites "individuals, agencies and all media" to submit written questions for al-Zawahri by sending them to the Web forums where Al-Sahab traditionally posts its messages.

Al-Sahab asked the forums to send it the questions "with no changes or substitutions, no matter whether they agree or disagree [with the question]."

It said it would take questions until Jan. 16, after which al-Zawahri would answer them "as much as he is able and at the soonest possible occasion." It did not say whether his answers would come in writing, video or audiotape.

The authenticity of the invitation, first posted Sunday, could not be independently confirmed. But it was posted with the logo of Al-Sahab and the style of graphics and calligraphy it traditionally uses, along with a photo of al-Zawahri.

The advertisement appeared on several Web sites that Al-Sahab officially uses for issuing messages.

Osama bin Laden and al-Zawahri have given a few interviews to Western and Arabic press since they first rose to prominence in the 1990s. But neither has been interviewed since the Sept. 11 attacks and the subsequent U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, which toppled al-Qaida's patrons the Taliban and sent al-Qaida's leaders into hiding.

They are believed to be in the lawless regions along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

Since then, al-Zawahri has emerged as al-Qaida's most prominent spokesman. He has appeared in at least 16 videos and audiotapes this year, compared to four for bin Laden.