By Joe Sterling

A terrorist peril that's notorious in Africa and Europe but less publicly well known in the United States may wreak havoc in the coming year, warns the top senator on intelligence matters.

The terror group, an al Qaeda affiliate in northern Africa known as al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) was singled out by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, who chairs the Senate's intelligence committee.

"For the past few years, AQIM has been almost an afterthought when discussing the terrorist threat. This may be about to change," she said on Tuesday during a hearing.

A report issued by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper ahead of the intelligence committee hearing made brief reference to AQIM when discussing al Qaeda's regional affiliates. Feinstein said the intelligence community needs to be ready to tackle the militant movement.
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From Raffaello Pantucci, Special to CNN

Editor's note: Raffaello Pantucci is an associate fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) and the author of the forthcoming "We Love Death As You Love Life: Britain's Suburban Mujahedeen" (Hurst/Columbia University Press).

After an explosive festive season that spilled into the New Year and growing stories of increased connections to other regional networks, Nigerian group Boko Haram is likely to be one of the main focuses of attention for counter terrorism experts in this coming year.

While definitively predicting whether it is going to metastasize into a global threat, or remain a regional one, is something dependent on many variable factors, some lessons from other regional violent Islamist networks can be drawn to understand better the general direction Boko Haram is going in.

Three groups are particularly useful to look at: Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in Yemen, al Shabaab in Somalia and al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). All three are groups that have a clear globalist violent Islamist rhetoric and varying degrees of connectivity with al Qaeda core in Pakistan. FULL POST

By Sr. National Security Producer Pam Benson

A deadly bombing in Abuja has launched a little-known Islamic extremist group onto the terrorism radar, raising U.S. officials' concern about the spread of the influence of al Qaeda.

Boko Haram claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack at a U.N. facility in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, that killed 23 people last month.

It was a departure from the group's recent campaign of assassinations and bombings aimed at government targets. The group's stated goal is the implementation of a strict form of Islamic law - sharia - in the predominantly Muslim states of Northern Nigeria.

Now some U.S. military officials are looking at the car bombing as a possible new calling card.

"We're seeing some degree of cross-pollination" between al Qaeda affiliates, said one of two U.S. defense officials who recently briefed reporters at the Pentagon. "When you see a group like Boko Haram, which is focused internally, use a car bomb the way they did, it's a capability they clearly got from (Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb)." Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, commonly referred to as AQIM, is based in North Africa.

Officials also point to statements made by the group indicating some of its people were trained in Somalia, where the terrorist group al-Shabaab operates. One of the suspects in the U.N. attack had reportedly been in Somalia.

Although the attack against the United Nations is the first time Boko Haram has hit a Western target, U.S. officials are worried the group could be aided by al Qaeda in a quest to threaten other Western interests in Nigeria and beyond.

Gen. Carter Ham, head of the U.S. Africa Command, recently told reporters that there is evidence that Boko Haram, AQIM and al-Shabaab are trying to form an alliance to coordinate attacks against the West. FULL POST