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North Africa could emerge as theatre of jihad: Report

Last Updated 04 May 2018, 04:31 IST

If some top British officials are to be believed, North Africa could emerge as a new “theatre of jihad” with the handful of remaining top al-Qaeda leaders shifting their base from Pakistan and Afghanistan to countries like Libya.

“At least two relatively senior al-Qaeda figures have already made their way to Libya, with others intercepted en route, raising fears that north Africa could become a new ‘theatre of jihad’ in coming months,” The Guardian quoted senior officials as saying. “A group of very experienced figures from north Africa left camps in Afghanistan’s (north-eastern) Kunar province where they have been based for several years and travelled back across the Middle East,” one source said. “Some got stopped but a few got through.”

The move to shift the base to Africa came after killing of senior al-Qaeda members in an intense campaign of air strikes involving missiles launched from unmanned drones in Pakistan and Afghanistan, an official said. Al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden was killed in a US special forces raid in May in Pakistan’s Abbottabad. Since then, many other high ranking leaders of the group have also been killed.

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(Published 26 December 2011, 12:18 IST)

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