However, many people do view Somalia as a potential new al-Qaeda bolthole. Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned recently that President Barack Obama's operations to squeeze the movement in both Afghanistan and Pakistan could see its fighters relocate to the Horn of Africa region. Already there are believed to be at least 500 fighters holed up in remote mountainous regions of Yemen, where they have been blamed for a spate of recent kidnappings and carbombings. Yemen lies just 200 miles across the Gulf of Aden from Somalia and is well within reach of pirate crews, who generally have little trouble evading foreign anti-piracy patrols .