Richard Fadden, the head of Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Monday said that a growing number of Canadians associated with al-Qaeda had made him more "worried" about terrorism in the country.

"Five years ago we weren't as worried about domestic terrorism as we are now," Globe and Mail quoted the head of the intelligence service as saying.

Richard Fadden told the Canadian House of Commons that al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist groups had set up centers in many countries where they called for recruits from the West.

"In every single case there are Canadians who have joined them," said Richard Fadden.

The head of the Intelligence Service said that his department was "following a number of cases where they think people might be inclined to acts of terrorism."

Fadden's testimony at the House of Commons came following Bulgaria's Interior minister's claim that a Lebanese-Canadian was among the key operatives behind a deadly bus bombing, targeting Israeli civilians last summer.

While in the 1990s and 2000s, the a-Qaeda terrorist group was concentrated in and around Afghanistan and Pakistan, now it had spread throughout the world, Richard said.

 "Al-Qaeda in the AfPak area was the directing brain of 9/11; it has been much weakened. But on the other hand all of their affiliates ... they are much, much more operational than they used to be," the Globe and Mail has quoted Fadden as saying. 

Richard Fadden said that once considered as marginal groups, "Somalia's al-Shabab, Yemen's al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula" and the Sahal region of Africa's "al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb" had become global players.

According to the government of Canada, the federal government has become more conscious following the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the U.S.  

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