WASHINGTON — Al Qaeda's terror network in North Africa is growing more active and attracting new recruits, threatening to further destabilize the continent's already vulnerable Sahara region, according to U.S. defense and counterterrorism officials.
The North African faction, which calls itself Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), is still small and largely isolated, numbering a couple hundred militants based mostly in the vast desert of northern Mali. But signs of stepped-up activity and the group's advancing potential for growth worry analysts familiar with the region.
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My Comment: Large and sympathetic Muslim populations. Failed governments. Vast stretches of land that one can hide into. Little if any future or opportunity for the young. Yup .... a great place for Al Qaeda to grow and flourish.