United Nations, Dec 18: Even as the global war against terrorism continued, al Qaeda has activated a number of training camps in eastern Afghanistan bordering Pakistan and also has access to "substantial quantities" of arms and explosives. These camps, believed to be in Assadabad region, an area that the Afghan coalition forces have found notoriously difficult to control, are attracting new recruits, a UN group monitoring al Qaeda activities said. "Particularly disturbing about this trend is the fact that new volunteers are making their way to these camps, swelling the number of would-be al Qaeda activists and the long-term capabilities of the network," the group said in a report released yesterday. The major area of concern, according to the report, is that a number of operatives trained in camps prior to September 11 attacks on the us have returned to their countries of origin or gone to others. He said there were no precise numbers available of al Qaeda operatives active in about 40 countries "but the figure of 10,000 is tossed around". He did not name any country.

Bureau Report