Osama bin Laden's death prompted Americans to pop champagne corks and party in flash mobs at the White House. His supporters on the internet had an altogether different response: anger, silence and suspended belief.

"As a cover-up to its catalog of failures, the enemy always tries to distract the attention of not only the supporters of the Jihad and the Mujahedeen," cries Abu Ali Assadiq, one moderator of the Somalia-oriented jihadi forum Al-Qimmah.

Reports of Bin Laden's demise are "a new barefaced lie that happens to be proved wrong in no time at all," Assadiq adds. "So, we would like to inform our brothers not to go into discussion about the current rumors till an official statement from the Mujahedeen themselves."

"Official" confirmation from al-Qaida's leadership could take a while, though. Concerns over operational security have made what used to be an agile group pretty slow and clunky in its official communications. They've had trouble getting out in front of the biggest stories.

Take the revolution in Egypt, for instance. Bin Laden's deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri didn't get his tape up about Egypt's January 25th uprising until Feb. 19, after Mubarak had already left. Al-Qaida leaders might be a little too concerned about their operational security at the moment to tape and rush out a video or audio release – particularly given that Bin Laden was apparently located by the United States tracking one of his couriers.

Meanwhile, some members of the elite jihadi online forums are already itching for payback. "Let his enemies be miserable," one commenter on the Shumukh al-Islam forum says of Bin Laden. "For by Allah, we will take our revenge."

But other leading sites are curiously quiet. One of the most visible English-language jihadi forums, Islamic Awakening, is currently down, and suffering "technical issues." On top Arabic-language forum Tahadi, "there’s hardly anything there at all," says Adam Raisman, an analyst with the SITE Intelligence Group. "Either the admins are deleting posts until there is official confirmation from al-Qaeda or the forum’s downtime took a toll on its popularity. There’s a post about bin Laden’s death causing a drop in oil prices."

As was the case when other leading extremist figures have been killed, "jihadists were quick to point out that al-Qaida is not simply an organization, but it is an ideology and its adherents are great in number," notes Raisman, who provided forum translations to Danger Room.

"The enemy is still failing to realize that the Jihad for the cause of the almighty Allah does not depend on the life of a leader, despite the facts on the ground that also show the same," Assadiq writes.

As another Shumukh member posts, "The lions will remain lions and will continue moving in the footsteps of Osama … O Allah, America will not enjoy safety and security until we live it in Palestine."

A third extremist forum member is holding out for word from other al-Qaida leaders. "This has not been confirmed by the Mujahideen," one Islamic Awakening member writes. "What ever the outcome Osama bin Laden is the most influential man of our times and may Allah accept all his sacrifices."

One terrorist group, though, has made an official comment on Bin Laden's death. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh lashed out today at the U.S. raid that killed the al-Qaida leader, saying "This is a continuance of the U.S. policy of atrocities." Hamas has been a frequent target of al-Qaida's ire for its participation in democratic elections and occasional tactical agreements with Israel. Nonetheless, Haniyeh told reporters Bin Laden was "a Muslim and Arabic warrior" and hopes his "soul rests in peace."

Photo: Bin Laden in his Afghan hideout in April 1998. (AP)

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