Qaeda's headquarters in Pak tribal areas pose gravest threat to UK

London, July 2 : International terror organization Al Qaeda may have been marginalized in Afghanistan and Iraq, but it has been resurging particularly in Pakistan, besides Somalia and Algeria, Western intelligence and defence sources have said.

"The core al-Qaeda headquarters in the tribal areas of Pakistan pose the gravest threat to the UK," they said and added that there has been an increasing evidence of Laden's network rebuilding in Pakistan.

The same transformation is occurring in Somalia, particularly in the south. A large number of radicalised Somalis are living in Britain and it is feared that instead of going to Pakistan for jihad training, they are traveling to Somalia.

According to an American estimate, up to 2000 militants, many of them being foreigners, were in training compounds in Pakistan, timesonline.com reported.

It said that Al Qaeda was re-emerging in strength in these three alternative safe havens for training, operational planning and recruiting. In Somalia and in Algeria, where the so-called al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb was set up in 2004 as a powerful bin Laden offshoot, the organisation was recruiting energetically and its leaders were believed to have aspirations to hit Western targets.

Al-Qaeda also does not appear to be short of experienced operational commanders. One senior figure who was responsible for carrying out research into nuclear, chemical and biological systems when the organisation was in Afghanistan, is believed to be involved in trying to produce unconventional weapons to target the West, which is said to be al-Qaeda's top ambition.

ANI