US believes al-Qa'ida is on the verge of defeat after deputy leader's death

Since Navy Seals stormed Osama bin Laden's compound and killed him in May, the Obama administration has been unusually frank in its assessment that al-Qa'ida is on the ropes, its leadership in disarray. The new US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said last month that al-Qa'ida's defeat was within reach if the US could mount a string of successful attacks. "Now is the moment, following what happened with Bin Laden, to put maximum pressure on them," Mr Panetta said. "Because I do believe that if we continue this effort we can really cripple al-Qa'ida as a major threat."

A Libyan national, Rahman never had the worldwide recognition of Bin Laden or Bin Laden's successor, Ayman al-Zawahiri. But Rahman was regarded as an instrumental figure in the organisation, trusted by Bin Laden to oversee al-Qa'ida's daily operations.

When the Seals raided Bin Laden's compound, they found evidence of Rahman's deep involvement in running al-Qa'ida.

Senior al-Qa'ida figures have been killed before, only to be replaced. But the Obama administration's tenor reflects a cautious optimism that victory in the decade-long fight against al-Qa'ida could be at hand.

"It does hold the prospect of a strategic defeat, if you will, a strategic dismantling, of al-Qa'ida," David Petraeus, the incoming CIA director, said in July.