WBRZ - Baton Rouge

Interpol's secretary general says that militants in Northern Africa and Somalia will soon pose more of a terrorist threat than those based in Afghanistan.

Ronald K. Noble tells The Associated Press that al-Qaida's North African branch and Somali Islamists will eclipse Afghanistan in terms of terror threats in the next five to 10 years.

Members of Somalia's al-Shabab movement have been of increasing concern to Western law enforcement agencies, especially after it claimed responsibility for attacks in Uganda's capital during the World Cup final that killed 76 people.

The attacks, the group's first outside Somali territory, were seen by analyst as an indicator of its international ambitions.

Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb is also of growing concern.