Al-Qaeda ‘rebuilding’ in Pakistan
BBC News
Published: 2007/01/12 04:49:45 GMT
The head of US spying operations says the leaders of al-Qaeda have found a secure hideout in Pakistan from where they are rebuilding their strength. National Intelligence Director John Negroponte said al-Qaeda was strengthening itself across the Middle East, North Africa and Europe.
There was no immediate reaction from the Pakistani government.
Earlier this week, the US carried out air strikes in Somalia targeting what it believed to be members of al-Qaeda.
Mr Negroponte told a Senate committee that al-Qaeda was still the militant organisation that posed the greatest threat to US interests.
He said the organisation was cultivating stronger operational capabilities and relationships that radiated out of Pakistan.
Difficult border
The head of the US Defence Intelligence Agency, Lt-Gen Michael Maples, said Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan remained a haven for al-Qaeda and other militants.
The tribal areas on the border are thought to be where al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, who are wanted for masterminding the 9/11 attacks, could be hiding.Pakistan and Afghanistan share a 1,400-mile (2,250km) mountainous border which is extremely difficult to patrol.
Taleban and al-Qaeda fighters are thought to be operating on both sides.
The two countries regularly exchange charge and counter-charge over who is to blame for the violence.
Recently, Pakistan reiterated its intention to fence and mine sections of the troubled border.
Kabul particularly opposes the idea of mining stretches of the frontier, saying it will endanger civilian lives.
An Islamist insurgency spearheaded by the resurgent Taleban militia is at its strongest in the southern Afghan provinces bordering Pakistan.
