U.N. Report: Al-Qaida Down but Not Out

Osama Bin Laden's successor as the leader of al-Qaida has struggled to unite its various factions, a U.N. report said Wednesday, but the group remains an evolving threat.

The report, delivered to the U.N. Security Council by a group of experts, said al-Qaida's Egyptian leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri had failed to rebuild the group's core leadership in Pakistan.

But it said various groups affiliated with al-Qaida are still adapting their tactics and seeking new targets, while retaining the ability to conduct deadly strikes.

And, while the French-led military operation in Mali and an African Union campaign in Somalia have pushed back al-Qaida militants, the Syrian civil war has seen hundreds of foreign volunteers join the cause there.

"Al-Qaida and its affiliates are more diverse and differentiated than before, united only by a loose ideology and a commitment to terrorist violence," the report said.

"A fragmented and weakened al-Qaida has not been extinguished," it said, adding: "the reality of al-Qaida's diminished capabilities and limited appeal does not mean that the threat of al-Qaida attacks has passed.

"Individuals and cells associated with al-Qaida and its affiliates continue to innovate with regard to targets, tactics and technology."

The U.N. report tallies with claims made by U.S. officials, including President Barack Obama, that so-called "core al-Qaida" has been weakened since Bin Laden's death in May 2011, while its regional wings continue to fight.

But it also flies in the face of reports on Wednesday that a security alert declared for U.S. missions in the Middle East was triggered when Zawahiri contacted al-Qaida's regional commanders and ordered an attack.