Egyptian security forces arrest brother of al-Qaeda's top leader Ayman al-Zawahri

Mohammed al-Zawahri, was detained at a checkpoint in Giza

He is the leader of the ultraconservative Jihadi Salafist group



Ayman al-Zawahr i is believed to be behind 9 /11 attack and 7/7



He has a £15-million bounty on his head and is on the 'most wanted' list



Arrest: Mohammed al-Zawahri the veteran terrorist leader of al-Qaeda has been arrested according to Egyptian security forces

The brother of a Ayman al-Zawahri, the veteran terrorist leader of al-Qaeda has been arrested according to Egyptian security forces.



A security official said that Mohammed al-Zawahri, leader of the ultraconservative Jihadi Salafist group, was detained at a checkpoint in Giza, the city across the Nile from Cairo.

Ayman al-Zawahri is credited by many as having been the 'operational brains' behind the 9/11 suicide attacks on the U.S. and to have approved the co-ordinated bombings on London’s transport system in in 2005 that left 52 innocent people dead.

Mohammed Al-Zawahri's group espouses a hard-line ideology but was not clandestine prior to Egypt's July 3 coup.

He was allied with ousted President Mohammed Morsi, an Islamist, whose supporters are now taking to the streets to protest the killings of its supporters in a security crackdown last week.



Authorities said earlier that al-Zawahri had commanded insurgents in Sinai Peninsula.

For years second only to Bin Laden on the 'most wanted' lists of terrorists released by the US in 2001, he has a £15-million bounty on his head and five years ago survived a missile strike aimed at killing him.

Right-hand man: Ayman Al-Zawahiri served for years as Osama bin Laden's deputy and took over when he died in 2011



SO WHO IS AYMAN AL-ZAWAHIRI?

New Al Qaeda leader Ayman Al Zawahiri met Osama Bin Laden in the mid-1980s while supporting mujahideen guerrillas fighting Soviets in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar.

He was born in Cairo, Egypt, in 1951 to a prominent family, his father a professor of pharmacology and his grandfather the grand imam of the highly influential Al Azhar mosque. Zawahiri is said to be the brains behind the Al Qaeda network with analysts describing him as Al Qaeda's chief organiser and Bin Laden's closest mentor.

He has at times appeared the terrorist groups's most public face, often appearing in videos denouncing the West.

The terror chief is notorious in Egypt after being sentenced to death in absentia by an Egyptian military court in 1999.

He has also been indicted in connection with the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

Zawahri has repeatedly called for al Qaeda to seize control of a state, an elusive goal for the group.

He wrote in his 2001 essay Knights Under The Prophet's Banner: 'If we do not achieve this goal, our actions will be nothing more than small scale harassment.'

The Al Qaeda leader Ayman Al Zawahiri met Osama Bin Laden in the mid-1980s while supporting mujahideen guerrillas fighting Soviets in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar.

He was born in Cairo, Egypt, in 1951 to a prominent family, his father a professor of pharmacology and his grandfather the grand imam of the highly influential Al Azhar mosque.



Zawahiri is said to be the brains behind the Al Qaeda network with analysts describing him as Al Qaeda's chief organiser and Bin Laden's closest mentor.



He has at times appeared the terrorist groups's most public face, often appearing in videos denouncing the West.



The terror chief is notorious in Egypt after being sentenced to death in absentia by an Egyptian military court in 1999.

He has also been indicted in connection with the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.



Zawahri has repeatedly called for al Qaeda to seize control of a state, an elusive goal for the group.



He wrote in his 2001 essay Knights Under The Prophet's Banner: 'If we do not achieve this goal, our actions will be nothing more than small scale harassment.'

It is believed Zawahiri turned his back on his boss following a prolonged power struggle to lead the group.



Atrocity: The number 30 double-decker bus in Tavistock Square, which was destroyed in the 7/7 bombings sanctioned by Al-Zawahari Ayman al-Zawahri is credited by many as having been the 'operational brains' behind the 9/11 suicide attacks on the U.S. A trove of material recovered from Bin Laden’s lair shows senior Al Qaeda figures were caught up in back-stabbing and one-upmanship.

It is understood that the plot to get rid of Bin Laden began when Zawahiri’s faction persuaded bin Laden to leave the protection of the tribal areas along the Afghan-Pakistan border. Street fighting in Cairo and other clashes across the country left 173 people dead on Friday, authorities say.

An anti-military coalition led by Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood has called for a week of protests, further escalating unrest in the country.

The coalition says that they won't back down until it topples the government installed by the military.

Clashes continued Saturday morning near a downtown Cairo mosque, where hundreds of Morsi's supporters remained after barricading themselves inside overnight. Fanatic: Zawahiri has appeared in numerous videos like this one and was considered the 'brains' of Al Qaeda