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Updated February 27th, 2020 at 16:41 IST

US general: terror groups work together in Africa

Soldiers from West African countries are taking part in a special counterterrorism exercise to counter a growing threat of extremism in the area, a senior US military official said.

US general: terror groups work together in Africa
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Soldiers from West African countries are taking part in a special counterterrorism exercise to counter a growing threat of extremism in the area, a senior US military official said. More than 1,500 service members from the armies of 34 African and partner training nations have assembled for the Flintlock exercises in Senegal and Mauritania, the two countries in West Africa's sprawling Sahel region that so far have not been hit by violence from extremists linked to al-Qaida or the Islamic State group.

The  two weeks of training is being organized by the U.S. Africa Command, which has said European nations should step up to help France's 5,000-strong force leading the counterterror fight in the Sahel, the region just below the Sahara Desert.

The commander of Special Operations Command Africa, U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Dagvin Anderson who was in Senegal on Wednesday stressed security in the Sahel region was deteriorating and required international participation.

"They (extremists) are they're coming back to this region. And I think they've got quite a network that we just don't have good visibility on," Anderson told the Associated Press.

He said the threat of a joined-up extremist effort was "very destabilizing to the region", and that "if it's left unchecked, it could very easily develop into a greater threat, and a greater threat to the West and the United States."

"If we're unable to disrupt their efforts, you give them that safe haven, you give them the opportunity to develop their external operations, to develop their capabilities," he added.

Once-peaceful Burkina Faso has seen a rising number of attacks since Islamic extremists became active in the country in 2015.

Hundreds have been killed and more than a half-million people displaced in the past year alone.

Nigeria, meanwhile, faces a more entrenched threat from Boko Haram, whose insurgency has lasted more than a decade, and an offshoot called the Islamic State West Africa Province.

This year, the annual drill is taking place in the shadow of possible US. troop cuts in Africa although extremist attacks in the region are reaching worrying new levels.

A Pentagon decision on the size of the U.S. force in Africa is pending as part of a global review with the aim of better countering Russia and China.

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Published February 27th, 2020 at 16:41 IST

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