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WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. counterterrorism officials are paying renewed attention to an increasingly dangerous incubator for extremism: a swath of northern and sub-Saharan West Africa, from the Atlantic coast of Morocco and Mauritania to the harsh deserts of Chad.
The centerpiece of terrorism problems in the region is Algeria's Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, better known by its French initials GSPC. Late last year, it joined forces with Osama bin Laden and renamed itself al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, an Arabic term used to refer to North Africa.
"The threat from al-Qaida's presence in the region is significant, very dangerous and potentially growing in a couple of cases," Assistant Secretary of State David Welch told the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday.
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