Now that bin Laden's dead, who are al Qaeda's most wanted leaders?

CNN) -- He was its founder and strategic guiding force, but now that Osama bin Laden is dead, who are al Qaeda's most wanted leaders?

The leaders whose influence and violent ambitions make them high-priority targets by intelligence agencies around the world.

Ayman al-Zawahiri

Ayman al-Zawahiri has played a defining role in al Qaeda for over a decade as bin Laden's deputy. He is now widely regarded as the organization's de facto leader.

Born into a wealthy family in Cairo, al-Zawahiri is a physician and founding member of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ), a militant organization that opposed the then secular Egyptian government of Hosni Mubarak and sought its overthrow through violent means.

Like bin Laden, al-Zawahiri also went to Afghanistan during their fight against the Soviets, although he was there primarily to offer his medical expertise.

By the 1990s, he again refocused his attention on undermining and attacking the Egyptian government and, eventually, the U.S..

In 1998, when the EIJ effectively merged with al Qaeda, he sent a fax to the Al-Hayat newspaper warning Americans. Three days later on August 7, suicide truck bombers hit the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killing 224 people.

The FBI is offering a $25 million reward for information leading to his capture -- the same as the reward for bin Laden -- reflecting al-Zawahiri's importance to the United States.

Paul Cruickshank, a CNN terrorism analyst, said: "Of all al Qaeda's senior leaders, al-Zawahiri is probably the one in most jeopardy. Western intelligence officers have told us that in recent times bin Laden and al-Zawahiri were probably in relatively close geographic proximity and also in touch to some degree, so all this information may help America track down al-Zawahiri."
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Anwar al-Awlaki

An American-born radical cleric who now lives in Yemen, Anwar al-Awlaki is the public face of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), one of the most active al Qaeda affiliates.

Born in New Mexico, he preached at a mosque in Virginia before leaving the U.S. for the Middle East. The U.S. regards al-Awlaki as the biggest threat to its homeland security.

U.S. officials say al-Awlaki helped recruit Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, the Nigerian man charged with trying to blow up a transatlantic flight as it landed in Detroit, Michigan, on December 25, 2009.

The militant cleric is also said to have exchanged e-mails with accused Fort Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Hassan who killed a dozen fellow soldiers and a civilian in a rampage at the Texas base.

AQAP claimed responsibility for the attempt to ship explosives into the United States via cargo planes late last year.

Earlier this month al-Awlaki narrowly survived an American drone assault after he switched vehicles with fellow jihadis, a senior security official told CNN.

At a U.S. congressional hearing earlier this year, Michael Leiter, Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, said: "I actually consider al Qaeda in the Arab peninsula with al-Awlaki as a leader within that organization as probably the most significant threat to the U.S."
comentary i think if the us wants more dead and have consecuenses i think that they will have it because al qaeda will revenge the dead of tethre leaders and they will pay the consecuenseas