Al-Zawahiri: From Egyptian doctor to al-Qaeda leader
He is thought to have planned the USS Cole attack in 2000, which resulted in the deaths of 17 US servicemen.
Boakyewaa Lawrencia 
Egyptian physician Ayman Al-Zawahiri was detained in the 1980s due to his association with extreme Islam.
After being freed, he finally fled Egypt and relocated to Afghanistan, where he allied with Osama bin Laden.
Zawahiri was regarded as al-intellectual Qaeda's brains.
He was charged in the US for his involvement in the bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in August 1998, which resulted in 224 fatalities and countless additional injuries.
He is thought to have planned the USS Cole attack in 2000, which resulted in the deaths of 17 US servicemen.
The assaults on September 11, 2001, were planned jointly by Zawahiri and Bin Laden.
Following the assassination of Bin Laden by US forces in Pakistan ten years ago, Zawahiri took the helm of al-Qaeda.
