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NEW YORK: There is growing evidence that battle-hardened extremists are filtering out of safe havens along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and into East Africa, bringing sophisticated terrorist tactics that include suicide attacks.
The alarming shift, according to U.S. military and counterterrorism officials, fuels concern that Somalia is increasingly on a path to become the next Afghanistan _ a sanctuary where al-Qaida-linked groups could train and plan their threatened attacks against the western world.
So far, officials say the number of foreign fighters who have moved from southwest Asia and the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region to the Horn of Africa is small, perhaps two to three dozen.
American officials already are seeing extremist factions in East Africa sharing information and techniques.
Several US military and counterterrorism officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence matters cautioned that the movements of the al-Qaida militants do not suggest an abandonment of the ungoverned Pakistan border region as a safe haven.
Instead, the shift is viewed by the officials more as an expansion of al-Qaida's influence, and a campaign to gather and train more recruits in a region already rife with militants.
Terrorists moving from Afghan border to Africa: US
The alarming shift, according to U.S. military and counterterrorism officials, fuels concern that Somalia is increasingly on a path to become the next Afghanistan _ a sanctuary where al-Qaida-linked groups could train and plan their threatened attacks against the western world.
So far, officials say the number of foreign fighters who have moved from southwest Asia and the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region to the Horn of Africa is small, perhaps two to three dozen.
American officials already are seeing extremist factions in East Africa sharing information and techniques.
Several US military and counterterrorism officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence matters cautioned that the movements of the al-Qaida militants do not suggest an abandonment of the ungoverned Pakistan border region as a safe haven.
Instead, the shift is viewed by the officials more as an expansion of al-Qaida's influence, and a campaign to gather and train more recruits in a region already rife with militants.
Terrorists moving from Afghan border to Africa: US