Al-Qaeda takes over regional groups

UNITED STATES: The terror network Al-Qaeda responsible for the September 11, 2001, attacks is trying to expand through corporate-style takeovers of regional Islamic extremist groups, The Los Angeles Times reported Sunday.

Citing unnamed US intelligence officials and counterterrorism experts, the newspaper said these moves indicated a shift in strategy by the terrorist group as it sought to broaden its reach and renew its ability to strike Western targets.

"Certainly we do see Al-Qaeda trying to influence the broader movement and to control some of these affiliates in a more direct way," the paper quotes a senior counterterrorism official as saying.

"The word I would use is 'co-opt' ... as opposed to simply associating with or encouraging. By that I mean target selection, types of attacks, methodology, funding, all of the things that would make an affiliate suddenly a subsidiary."

The official's assessment coincided with those offered by a variety of current and former government authorities and private-sector experts, the report said.

Bruce Riedel, a senior CIA counterterrorism official until late last year, said Al-Qaeda "central" stands to gain hundreds or even thousands of foot soldiers, many of whom carry European passports and do not require a visa to travel to the United States, The Times said.

"I think what we are seeing is the reconstitution of their capabilities to strike targets in Western Europe and ultimately North America on a scale identical or bigger than September 11," Riedel, now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, is quoted as saying.

"Absolutely, we should be alarmed about this," he added. "They are creating franchises and buying franchises, offering expertise, networks, money."

Based in northwestern Pakistan, Al-Qaeda leaders have rebuilt a network of field commanders that was largely decimated in the post-September 11 attacks on its bases in Afghanistan, the report said.

These new operatives are reestablishing connections with long-standing affiliates that have been fairly independent, The Times said.

But they also are reaching past those groups to new organizations and even tribal and clan leaders.

Washington, Monday, AFP