LONDON, Nov 25: The United States and Britain are planning to extend the war on terrorism to Somalia, Sudan and Yemen as soon as the campaign in Afghanistan is over, The Sunday Times reported.

A defence ministry spokeswoman played down the report, but did not rule out future action in the three new countries.

The spokeswoman told AFP: “You can’t discount any ideas but we are focusing on Afghanistan and we have no plans to do anything else. We still have work to do in Afghanistan.

“But it would be stupid to narrow what we are going to do in terms of the military aspect.”

The US and Britain are considering targets linked to Osama bin Laden in the three countries, The Sunday Times said, citing senior official sources in London and Washington.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George W. Bush had agreed that the momentum created by the anti-terror coalition’s recent successes in Afghanistan must be maintained with swift action elsewhere, the paper added.

“We have the wind at our backs and we don’t want to lose it,” the broadsheet quoted a senior Washington source as saying.

The British defence ministry spokeswoman added: “We analyse the military situation day by day.

“I am not ruling anything out. Military planners are looking at a range of aspects.”

Intelligence officers from both Britain and the US have been on the ground in all three countries to gather information about terrorists and ascertain their links with Al-Qaeda.

The British and their CIA counterparts have been assembling evidence to be used as the basis for attacks on Osama’s associates and terrorist training camps, The Sunday Times reported.

Military preparations have also begun, though plans to strike specific targets have not yet been finalised, the paper added.

The first targets, according to the broadsheet’s British sources, could be hit as early as late January if the war in Afghanistan is nearing its final stages by then.

Al-Qaeda supporters have established bases in the northern mountains of Yemen, where 17 US sailors died in a suicide bomb attack on the USS Cole off Aden last year, The Sunday Times said.

It added that US officials hoped to secure the cooperation of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who visits Washington this week.

In Sudan, where Osama lived until 1996, the Bush administration is expected to pursue followers of Hassan al-Turabi, a former parliamentary speaker who gave Osama sanctuary for five years, according to The Sunday Times.

Possible targets in Somalia include the Al-Itihaad group, which has been linked to Osama through Muhammad Atef, his deputy, who was killed by an US missile in Afghanistan, the paper added.

Officials believe that extending the campaign to Sudan, Somalia and Yemen will keep Al-Qaeda on the run. A British Ministry of Defence source told the paper: “We are focused on Afghanistan.

“However, this is part of a wider war on terror, wherever that may be, so it should not be a surprise to learn that military planning may be under way in other parts of the world.

“While we cannot confirm targets, the three countries mentioned have all been linked to terrorist activity.”—AFP