As core al-Qaida weakened, its successors spread

In this Sept. 15, 2014, photo, Kurdish citizens who live in Lebanon shout slogans and hold a photograph during a demonstration against militants who refer to themselves as the Islamic State, in front of the UN building, in downtown Beirut, Lebanon. Osama bin Laden is dead and al-Qaida dispersed, yet the horrors keep coming. Journalists beheaded on camera. School girls abducted by gunmen in the night. Families fleeing their homes in fear they might be executed because of their religion. The news from much of the Middle East and Africa is relentlessly brutal. The Islamic State group’s rampage through Iraq and Syria has shocked the United States into launching expanded air strikes at a time when Americans were expecting to pull back from the Middle East after more than a decade of war. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla) In this Sept. 15, 2014, photo, Kurdish citizens who live in Lebanon shout slogans and hold a photograph during a demonstration against militants who refer to themselves as the Islamic State, in front of the UN building, in downtown Beirut, Lebanon. Osama bin Laden is dead and al-Qaida dispersed, yet the horrors keep coming. Journalists beheaded on camera. School girls abducted by gunmen in the night. Families fleeing their homes in fear they might be executed because of their religion. The news from much of the Middle East and Africa is relentlessly brutal. The Islamic State group’s rampage through Iraq and Syria has shocked the United States into launching expanded air strikes at a time when Americans were expecting to pull back from the Middle East after more than a decade of war. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

By Associated Press September 16, 2014 6 min read

WASHINGTON (AP) – Osama bin Laden is dead and al-Qaida dispersed, yet the horrors keep coming.

Western hostages beheaded on camera. School girls abducted by gunmen in the night. Families fleeing their homes in fear they might be killed because of their religion. The news from much of the Middle East and Africa is relentlessly brutal.

The Islamic State group’s rampage through Iraq and Syria has shocked the United States into launching expanded air strikes at a time when Americans were expecting to pull back from the Middle East after more than a decade of war.

Meanwhile, like-minded militants are gunning people down and blowing them up on a smaller scale in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Nigeria, Somalia and beyond.

While the 13-year U.S. campaign against al-Qaida tamped down its core leadership, the terror group’s followers, offshoots and wannabes have spread.