Death of al-Qaeda leader may benefit Islamic State

The U.S. missile strike that killed al-Qaeda's No. 2 leader is another in a recent string of devastating blows to the terrorist group's old-guard leadership that might inadvertently help a more brutal terror group: the Islamic State, analysts said.

Al-Qaeda announced Tuesday that Nasir al-Wahishi, who led the group's active affiliate inYemen and had been close to founder Osama bin Laden, had been killed. The U.S. government later confirmed al-Wahishi's death.

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The death comes as al-Qaeda is vying with the Islamic State for supremacy in the region and could give a boost to the al-Qaeda offshoot that has captured large parts of Syria and Iraq.

"What we are starting to see now with that generation going is that people who favor the Islamic State method of doing things are gaining the ascendancy," said Matthew Henman, head of IHS Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Centre.

The Islamic State is even more ruthless than al-Qaeda and has no qualms about killing civilians or attacking mosques and posting videos of its ruthlessness. The group's success in Syria and Iraq have attracted legions of young recruits.

Al-Wahishi's generation of leaders were able to rally the organization's followers around its brand of terror that largely hit Western targets.

Al-Qaeda's Yemen affiliate has plotted a number of those attacks. It claimed responsibility for January's massacre of staffers at the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdoin Paris after the magazine poked fun at the prophet Mohammed.

Yet the next generation of leaders may be lured by the Islamic State's mass brutality against enemies, which include fellow Muslims, or risk losing followers to the militants, Henman said.

Al-Qaeda announced that al-Wahishi's deputy, Qassim al-Raimi, would replace the man who had built the organization in Yemen into al-Qaeda's most dangerous affiliate.

Ned Price, a spokesman for the President Obama's National Security Council, called al-Wahishi's death "a major blow" to al-Qaeda. "The president has been clear that terrorists who threaten the United States will not find safe haven in any corner of the globe," he said.

While al-Qaeda and its affiliates "will remain persistent in their efforts to threaten the United States, our partners, and our interests, Wahishi's death removes from the battlefield an experienced terrorist leader and brings us closer to degrading and ultimately defeating these groups," Price said in a statement.

Al-Raimi's quick succession, however, questions the effectiveness of the administration's tactic of using drone strikes to target al-Qaeda leaders, given the organization can quickly replace leaders with little disruption to its operations, some analysts said.

"If you are decapitating right and left and the threat is still growing, then the strategy is not working," said James Carafano, an analyst at the Heritage Foundation.

The Obama administration has stepped up targeted drone strikes, particularly in Yemen in recent months. A raging civil war there between a Saudi-backed government and Iran-backed rebels has allowed both al-Qaeda and the Islamic State to capitalize on the chaos to grow in influence and power. Both groups also are benefiting from civil wars in Syria and Libya.

"Al-Qaeda was presented with an opportunity in these countries and it is working to exploit it," said Katherine Zimmerman, an analyst at the American Enterprise Institute. Recent killings of al-Qaeda leaders represent only "short-term tactical gains" for the United States, she said.