Al-Qaeda facing financial and manpower crunch: report

Details of communication between al Qaeda leaders derived from Osama bin Laden's computers indicate that the terror network is facing massive financial crunch and difficulties in replacing cadres lost in combat with US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan, Pakistan and other places, a media report said today.

During the six weeks of intensive study of the materials obtained from Abbottabad compound of Osama bin Laden, where he was killed by special US forces on May 2, the CIA-led inter-agency team prepared some 400 intelligence reports.

The most important information gleaned from the 15 computers and 100 storage devices recovered from his compound is the information about the internal strains of the terrorist outfit and the repeated attempt of bin Laden to carry out attacks on the US, The Washington Post reported.

"The trove makes it clear that bin Laden's primary goal — you can call it an obsession — was to attack the US homeland," a senior US counter-terrorism official was quoted as saying.

"He pushed for this every way he could," he added.

According to The Washington Post over the past year, the al-Qaeda leader fielded e-mails from followers lamenting the toll being taken by CIA drone "explosions" as well as the network's financial plight.

"Bin Laden approved the creation of a

counter-intelligence unit to root out traitors and spies, only to receive a complaint in mid-2010 from the unit's leader that it was losing the 'espionage war' and couldn't function on its paltry budget," it said.