subcommander

plural subcommanders

1. A commander who is subordinate in rank.

   Still other officials say the mayhem may be partly a result of a vicious rivalry between two Qaeda subcommanders in Mali, Mokhtar Belmokhtar and Abdelhamid Abu Zeid, a clash that underscores the kind of autonomous jihad cells that counterterrorism officials say are particularly hard to combat.

   2009 July 10, Eric Schmitt, “Qaeda Branch Steps Up Raids in North Africa”, in New York Times