Senior British officials believe that the senior members of al Qaeda might be moving towards North Africa after being weakened in Pakistan and a “last push” in 2012 may definitely destroy the remaining al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan, said a report by The Guardian on Monday.
The report quoted one official as saying that the “intense campaign” of unmanned drone strikes has successfully killed many al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan and “only a handful of key players” are left alive.
Fearing that North Africa might become the new “theatre of jihad” soon, some well-informed sources told The Guardian that “two relatively senior al Qaeda figures have already made their way to Libya, with others intercepted en route”.
One source said, “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… Some got stopped but a few got through.”
A British official, while commenting on the presence of al Qaeda leaders in West Asia, told the newspaper, “I think they are really very much weakened… You can't say they don't pose a threat – they do – but it's a much lesser one.”
British and US intelligence sources told the The Guardian that there are an estimated 100 “al Qaeda or al Qaeda-affiliated” militants in Afghanistan, of whom only “a handful” were seen to pose a threat internationally to the UK or other western nations.
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How can the Guardian forget that apart from the Alqaeda leaders in Drone attacks, a number of innocent people have died too, which has led to the support to the terrorists by the family memebers of those innocents who were killed, so these drone attacks have not solvesd problems , rather on the contrary have increased them alot.
@Alchemy,
So, as a corollary, Pakistan must now pursue and destroy those who target its soldiers, girls school as well as manics who want to enforce Sharia law, as well as their supporters and funders hiding behind charities. Not to mention home-grown suicide bombers. However, the army hierarchy and our civilian leadership seems more interested in holding on to their respective offices.
I don't believe it! What about Kayani and Pasha?!
To my ignorant Paki brothers:
As a nation, we are indebted to the US & NATO for sweeping clean PK from Talibans. I acknowledge the efforts of Pakistani forces and public but let us not forget PK Army & Govt is(& was) not equipped to handle these terrorist groups. Unable to bring under PK sovereign control the tribal region since independence, let's not be arrogant & ignorant!
US must continue the war on terror in Afganistan & Pakistan. We can't fight by ourselves - I am ashamed but fact is fact!
Thank you USA - Thank you NATO - Thank you Pakistan - Thank you Afghanistan!
@Mard-e-Haq:
Most of the Drones are targetted towards Al Qaeda or those Taliban who are in close association with them.
The kind of Taliban who go around blowing up girls school or enforcing shariat are far too many for the US to go after with Drones.
I can but just laugh on US/ Uk revelation. "War on Terror" narrative is written by the US. They know when to paint a situation and when to award success and declare failure. After all they have to achieve the "exercise objectives", which we might not truly know but can safely and logically predict and discern!
The report quoted one official as saying that the “intense campaign” of unmanned drone strikes has successfully killed many al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan
Yes yes, give all credit to the Americans...Our soldiers did nothing right?
@Bangladeshi: Is it really the AlQaeda Terrorists or THE WORDS BIGGEST TERRORIST US OF A WHO LOVES THE SMELL OF OIL ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD???
@x: VERY WELL SAID !!!!
This definitely means that the next war on terror will be launched by United States of America on North Africa.
I see another war on Libya to save it from Al Qaeda. Btw America just wait. You have created hundreds of innocent orphans by your drones which are goin to stand up one day and take their revenge
Those who think there is much difference between Al Qaeda and the Taliban, should think again.
Its only natural for Al Qaeda to move to N.Africa as the region is rich in Oil & Gas and may have tons of uranium & rare earth metals. This terrorist organization really love the smell oil.
It's interesting that remaining members of the Al Qaeda are fleeing to North Africa. They saw no point in staying in the Afghanistan or Pakistan, as the Taliban aren't interested in their global agenda. Some senior figures are alleged to be on the way to Libya. Would North Africa become a new hotbed for Jihadism in the near future? Probably! Those repressive regimes in Egypt and Libya are gone and the Sahara is - politically - a very unstable region.
Peace talks with Tehreek e Taliban, Al Qaeda being destroyed, seems like we are heading towards peace.
They have realised that Pakistan would be too tough for them. So, they are finding excuses, creating reasons to quit Afghanistan, FOR NOW. In absence of Qaddafi, Libya won't be a hard target to occupy and control; especially with NATO and USA puppets controlling that country. And also, with removal of US puppet regime in Egypt, they need another base station.
NATO aggression was a trick to find an excuse to leave Afghanistan. Last week 10,000 left Afghanistan and remaining would be returning soon.
@Blunt!: Disagree entirely. You conveniently forget the role our armed forces and the intelligence agencies played. Salams to Pakistan
This statement has been done time and again starting from Mr Mushharraff ... The Killing is still happening ... obviously of innocent muslims ...
Another way of redirecting the War on Terror toward the North African Muslim countries...
Drones are the best thing after the slice of bread. May God bless their operators for eliminating the top terrorists out of Pakistani and Afghan soil. Please continue to finish the job using these modern "Ababils". Thank you thank you thank you. Did I say thank you?
haha trying to save face US of A? you managed to ravage a country, destroy lives and ruin generations, and to top it off, you did not even manage to win the war.
do they change their organization name??
Pakistan should thank US for this!
Then why is the terror campaign continuing, resulting in attacks on girls schools, minorities and Pakistani soldiers?