How many members does Al Qaeda have?

Before 9/11, the group's active membership numbered in the thousands worldwide. ... Not only have the US and its allies gotten much better at preventing the sorts of large-scale, spectacular attacks al-Qaeda prefers, but it's also unclear ... The big open question: how much does AQ want to attack the US? read more

A dozen terrorism scholars gave a wide range of answers when asked to estimate how many members there are, how the numbers have changed during al Qaeda's lifespan and how many countries the group operates in. Analysts put the core membership at anywhere from 200 to 1,000. read more

It has a long history of cooperation with Al Qaeda and other Islamist groups, and has been hugely influential in AQ’s formation and survival, from hosting AQ members and camps in the 1980s to helping AQ escape from Afghanistan after U.S. forces toppled the Taliban. read more

Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military targets in various countries, including the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings, the September 11 attacks, and the 2002 Bali bombings. The U.S. government responded to the September 11 attacks by launching the "War on Terror". read more