A very quiet Al Qaeda in Waziristan suggests terror attack in offing: Experts

Washington, May 14 (ANI): Experts monitoring audio and video messages released by the terror group, Al Qaeda and its number two leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, feel that it has suddenly "gone dark," and too quiet in Waziristan, and suggest that this could be the lull before the (terror) storm.

Some intelligence analysts believe such absences precede major terror attacks by al Qaeda.

"I don't like it, it's too quiet," said a person who monitors websites for al Qaeda and terror-related messages.

Zawahiri has not been seen or heard since December 2009, "the longest gap he has had in nearly six years," according to Ben Venzke of the IntelCenter, which monitors al Qaeda messages for governments, businesses and the media.

A US official said there is "no reason" to believe that Zawahiri has been killed or injured in recent months but that "it is possible" he and other al Qaeda leaders "have new concerns about their security."

Al Qaeda safe havens in North Waziristan in Pakistan have been under a sustained air attack by CIA directed Predator aircraft.

The ABC quoted Venzke, as saying the disappearance of another frequent al Qaeda speaker, Abu Yahya al-Libi, is the longest gap "since he first began to regularly appear in al Qaeda messaging in 2006."

He has not appeared in an al Qaeda propaganda tape for 137 days, reported the IntelCenter. (ANI)