THE terrorist threat from al-Qaida, the Islamic State group, and their affiliates remains high in conflict zones in Africa and Afghanistan — and threat levels have risen in some regions, including Europe, United Nations experts said in a new report.

The panel of experts said in the 23-page account that the relationship between Afghanistan's Taliban rulers and al-Qaida remains close, and unnamed member states said that "the high concentration of terrorist groups" in the country is undermining the security situation in the region.

The greatest threat within Afghanistan still comes from the Islamic State "with its ability to project into the region and beyond," the experts said in the report to the UN Security Council covering the period until Dec. 16, 2023, which was circulated Wednesday.

Regionally, they pointed to a succession of attacks in neighboring Iran and Pakistan and threats in Central Asian nations. The panel said, however, that while none of the al-Qaida-affiliated groups have recovered the capability to launch long-range operations, "they harbor global ambitions."

The Islamic State group broke away from al-Qaida over a decade ago and attracted supporters from around the world. The panel said the combined IS strength in the two countries is still between 3,000 and 5,000 fighters.

In Iraq, they are carrying out "a low-intensity insurgency with covert terrorist cells," while it has intensified since November, the experts said.

They pointed to "a deficit in counterterrorism capabilities," which the Islamic State and al-Qaida-affiliated groups are continuing to exploit.

"The situation is becoming ever more complex with the conflation of ethnic and regional disputes with the agenda and operations of these groups," they said.

Across Europe, the experts said, "formal terrorist threat levels have risen ... following fatal attacks in late 2023 in France and Belgium, in addition to numerous non-lethal terrorist incidents and arrests in several European countries."

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