WORLD NEWS

WASHINGTON: Al-Qaeda still aims to strike inside the United States but homegrown or unaffiliated extremists now "pose an equally serious threat," FBI chief Robert Mueller warned US lawmakers Thursday.

"Al-Qaeda and its affiliates are still committed to striking us in the United States," Mueller told a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee, pointing to plots to bomb New York City subways and the failed Christmas airline attack.

"Homegrown and lone-wolf extremists pose an equally serious threat," the Federal Bureau of Investigation director said, citing the shootings at the sprawling Fort Hood army base in Texas.

"These terrorist threats are diverse, far-reaching and ever-changing, and to combat these threats, the FBI must sustain our overseas contingency operations and engage our intelligence and law enforcement partners both here at home and abroad," he said.