Washington- American officials say they are seeing the first evidence that dozens of fighters with al-Qaida, and a small handful of the terrorist group’s leaders, are moving to Somalia and Yemen from their principal haven in Pakistan’s tribal areas.

In communications that are being watched carefully at the Pentagon, the White House and the Central Intelligence Agency, the terrorist groups in all three locations are now in contact more frequently and apparently are trying to coordinate their actions, the officials said.

Some aides to President Barack Obama attribute the moves to pressure from intensified drone attacks against al-Qaida operatives in Pakistan, after years of unsuccessful American efforts to dislodge the terrorist group from their outposts there. 

But there are other possible explanations. Chief among them is the growth of the jihadist campaigns in both Somalia and Yemen, which may now have some of the same appeal for militants that Iraq did after the American military invasion there in 2003. Somalia is now a failed state that bears some resemblance to Afghanistan before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, while Yemen’s weak government is ineffectually trying to combat the militants, American officials say.

The shift of fighters is still small, perhaps a few dozen, and there is no evidence that the top leaders – Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri – are considering a move from their refuge in the Pakistani tribal areas.

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