Pakistan-based al Qaeda is secretly setting up sleeper cells and a clandestine network of jihadists to destabilize and take over Libya while hiding under a new cover name to prevent exposure and attacks, according to an internal Pentagon report obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
Al Qaeda has established a core network in Libya, but it remains clandestine and refrains from using the al Qaeda name, according to the report produced jointly by the Library of Congress and the Combating Terrorism Technical Support Offices Irregular Warfare Support Program, a unit under the assistant defense secretary for special operations.
The 54-page unclassified report describes al Qaedawhich President Barack Obama recently declared to be in declineas seeking to create an al Qaeda clandestine network in Libya that could be activated in the future to destabilize the government and/or to offer logistical support to al Qaedas activities in North Africa and the Sahelthe Sahara desert region stretching across northern Africa.
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Pentagon: Al Qaeda planning for Libya takeover | Times 247