Intel chiefs: Al Qaeda offshoots more menacing

Al Qaeda-linked groups around the world are growing dangers, recruiting a new generation of terrorists, many with Western passports who can infiltrate the United States or Europe for deadly, small-scale attacks, U.S. intelligence chiefs warned Congress on Tuesday.

Islamic extremists inspired by al Qaeda are well-established in Yemen and Somalia and are emerging in countries such as Nigeria, CIA Director David H. Petraeus told a joint hearing of the Senate and House intelligence committees.

These affiliate groups “have their own command structures, resource bases and operational agendas, and they largely operate autonomously,” he said.

Many of their recruits have Western passports and backgrounds that “make them well-suited for targeting the United States and Europe,” Mr. Petraeus said.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, based in Yemen, is the most dangerous of the affiliates, he said. Political unrest in Yemen has helped the terrorists expand their territory and influence.

Al-Shabab in southern Somalia is “large and well-funded,” and the lawless East African nation is now “one of [JUMP]the world’s most significant havens for terrorists,” Mr. Petraeus said.

His warnings were given weight by the weekend arrest of four men in Sweden, charged with plotting a terrorist attack in the city of Gothenburg. The suspects, three of whom are naturalized Swedish citizens, are linked to al-Shabab, according to Swedish media reports.