Los Angeles, Nov 10 : Besides the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, US President-elect Barack Obama will have to face another war - against stateless networks of Islamic extremists, particularly in the wake of trained terrorists retrning to Britain and other western countries, said an unidentified Italian anti-terrorism official.

Western security officials worry particularly about Al Qaeda recruits returning to Britain and other Western countries from training in Pakistan. “I fear Al Qaeda could try to test Obama,” the Daily Times quoted the Italian official as telling the Los Angeles Times.

The western officials are of the view that apart from Al Qaeda, the next US administration also faces the threat of attacks, training hubs and radicalisation in locales varying from Somalia and Yemen to Western Europe, added the paper.

They further said although a weaker Al Qaeda, tighter US borders and the apparent lack of US support networks made a new strike on American soil unlikely, impossible.

Obama, who had his first secret intelligence briefing as President-elect on Thursday, has called for US forces to go after Al Qaeda leaders in northwest Pakistan if Islamabad failed to do so, the report said and added that experts predict that President Bush will press the hunt for Osama Bin Laden and his deputies in hope of a last-minute triumph before his term ends. (ANI)