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Pompeo on Search for Senior Al Qaeda Leaders: 'If I Were Them, I Would Count My Days'

September 11, 2017

CIA Director Mike Pompeo said Monday that senior al Qaeda leaders should "count" their days because the U.S. intelligence community is narrowing in on them.

Pompeo appeared on Fox News, where host Bret Baier asked the director to analyze the state of international terrorism 16 years after 9/11.

"So the al Qaeda was really sixteen years ago the big player," Baier said. "Now it seems like these splinter groups have multiplied and expanded around the globe."

Pompeo agreed, saying that he never wants to underestimate al Qaeda because there are still senior leaders from over a decade ago still alive.

"Hunting those senior leaders has always been important. Is there a hunt on the way for [Ayman] al-Zawahiri and [Osama] bin Laden's son?" Baier asked.

"Oh yes sir," Pompeo said.

"Daily?" Baier asked.

Pompeo said that his team was hunting for them daily and that they were even looking for them to bring them to justice as he sat down for his interview.

"Any positive signs?" Baier asked.

'If I were them, I would count my days," Pompeo said.

Hamza bin Laden, one of the sons of late al Qaeda leader and 9/11 architect Osama bin Laden, participated in a propaganda video back in May that encouraged followers to "follow in the footsteps of martyrdom-seekers before you."