North Africa could emerge as new 'theatre of jihad': Report

North Africa could emerge as a new "theatre of jihad" with the handful of remaining top al-Qaeda leaders shifting their base from Pakistan and Afghanistan to countries like Libya, top British officials have warned."At least two relatively senior al-Qaeda figures have already made their way to Libya, with others intercepted en route, raising fears that north Africa could become a new 'theatre of jihad' in coming months," The Guardian quoted senior officials as saying."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," one source said. "Some got stopped but a few got through."The move to shift the base to Africa came after killing of senior al-Qaeda members in an intense campaign of air strikes involving missiles launched from unmanned drones in Pakistan and Afghanistan, an official said. Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was killed in a US special forces raid in May in Pakistan's Abbottabad. Since then, many other high ranking leaders of the group have also been killed.The paper said that senior British officials believe that a "last push" in 2012 is likely to definitively destroy al-Qaeda's remaining "handful of the key players"."It is unclear whether the moves from west Asia to north Africa are prompted by a desire for greater security... or part of a strategic attempt to exploit the aftermath of the Arab spring," the paper said, adding the move could be an effort to shift the centre of gravity of al-Qaeda's effort back to the homelands of the vast majority of its members.British foreign secretary William Hague recently warned that mercenaries driven out of Libya could switch allegiance to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.