Al-Qaeda weakened in Pakistan: US report

WASHINGTON: The world-wide terror threat is evolving as Al-Qaeda linked groups and other militants become increasingly violent and a new generation of global terrorists is spawned in Syria, said the State Department s 2013 Country Reports on Terrorism.

US counter-terrorism efforts focused on Al-Qaeda have “degraded” the core leadership, but “subsequently 2013 saw the rise of increasingly aggressive and autonomous AQ affiliates and like-minded groups in the Middle East and Africa.Al-Qaeda, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, Punjabi Taliban and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi carried out terrorist activities in Pakistan.

The report said that the activities were carried out by planting locally made bombs in bicycles, motorcycles, rickshaws and other vehicles.The report pointed that al-Qaeda has weakened in Pakistan as communications between the leadership and militants were cut.The report, however, said that al-Qaeda and Haqqani Network posed a great risk to US interests in 2013.