Brown Says Extremists Seeking Foothold In Weaker States

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown says that Islamist extremists driven out of Pakistan and Afghanistan will doubtless reemerge in struggling states like Yemen and Somalia.

Speaking on BBC television today, Brown said that battling what he called the "murderous ideology" of extremist Muslims would likely become a feature of the coming decade.

He said the international community has to be vigilant in every part of the world where there is a failed state or a failing state which creates space for a terrorist group to operate.

Earlier, Brown and U.S. President Barack Obama agreed to fund a special counterterrorism police unit in Yemen to battle what officials say is the growing Al-Qaeda terrorist threat coming from the Arabian Peninsula country.

The initiative was announced in the wake of the failed Christmas Day bomb attack on a U.S. airliner by a Nigerian man who has reportedly told U.S. investigators he was trained by Al-Qaeda operatives in Yemen.

compiled from agency reports