Obama: Al-Libi will be brought to justice

President Barack Obama said Tuesday the US has strong evidence that recently captured Al-Qaeda operative Abu Anas Al-Libi planned and help operations that killed hundreds of people, thus would be brought to justice. Al-Libi, who was captured by US forces in Tripoli, Libya "planned and helped to execute a plot that killed hundreds of people, a whole lot of Americans," Obama said during a press conference. "We have strong evidence of that. And he will be brought to justice," Obama added. A team of US Navy SEALs also carried out a raid in southern Somalia targeting a leader of Al-Shabaab and Al-Qaeda affiliate Abdikadir Mohamed Abdikadir, known as "Ikrima." Meanwhile, Obama noted there are "regional groups, some of which are explicitly tied to Al-Qaeda or that ideology, some of which are more localized. Few of them have the ability to project beyond their borders, but they can do a lot of damage inside their borders." He added that Africa is one of the places "where, because in some cases, lack of capacity on the part of the governments, in some cases because it is easier for folks to hide out in vast terrains that are sparsely populated, that you're seeing some of these groups gather. And we're going to have to continue to go after them. "There is a difference between us going after terrorists who are plotting directly to do damage to the United States and us being involved in wars," he affirmed. He stressed that "the risks of terrorism and terrorist networks are going to continue for some time to come. We've got to have a long-term plan that is not just military-based. We've got to engage in a war of ideas in the region and engage with Muslim countries and try to isolate radical elements that are doing more damage to Muslims than they are doing to anybody else." He said "we've got to think about economic development because although there's not a direct correlation between terrorism and the economy, there is no doubt that if you've got a lot of unemployed, uneducated young men in societies, that there is a greater likelihood that terrorist recruits are available. "Where you've got active plots and active networks, we're going to go after them. We prefer partnering with countries where this is taking place wherever we can, and we want to build up their capacity, but we're not going to farm out our defense" Obama remarked.