Al-Qaeda has reportedly appointed Egyptian national, Saif al-Adel, as interim leader following the death of Osama bin Laden. According to U.S. prosecutors, al-Adel has served as one of al-Qaeda’s top military commanders. He is believed to have helped plan the bomb attacks against the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in 1998. Al-Qaeda, meanwhile, has released a posthumous audio message it says was recorded by bin Laden a week before his death. On the tape, bin Laden praises the uprisings sweeping the Arab world against what he calls “tyrants.” The Pakistani Taliban has also released a new tape vowing to avenge bin Laden’s death within a few months and target Pakistan and U.S. intelligence agencies. At the Pentagon, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said he has seen no evidence top Pakistani officials knew of bin Laden’s presence inside Pakistan.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates: “I have seen no evidence at all that the senior leadership knew. In fact, I’ve seen some evidence to the contrary, but — and we have no evidence yet with respect to anybody else. My supposition is, somebody knew.”