Bin Laden and al-Zawahiri, left, are on the top of the wanted list
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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 its ties across the Middle East, North
Africa and Europe.
Pakistan rejected the comments, which are the most specific on the issue yet.
This week, the US carried out air strikes in Somalia targeting what it believed to be members of al-Qaeda.
The BBC's James Westhead in Washington says that until
now the US has not been so specific about where it believes al-Qaeda's
leaders are hiding.
Such a claim will be embarrassing for Pakistani
President Pervez Musharraf, who Mr Negroponte described as a key
partner in America's war on terror, our correspondent says.
Afghanistan has welcomed the comments. President Hamid
Karzai's chief-of-staff, Jawed Ludin, told the BBC that Afghanistan had
long maintained that the Islamic militants operated from within
Pakistan, and that Mr Negroponte's statement was refreshing in its
honesty.
'Secure hide-out'
Mr Negroponte told a Senate committee that al-Qaeda was
still the militant organisation that "poses the greatest threat to US
interests".
"They are cultivating stronger operational connections
and relationships that radiate outward from their leaders' secure
hideout in Pakistan to affiliates throughout the Middle East, North
Africa and Europe," he said.
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We have captured or killed numerous senior al-Qaeda operatives, but al-Qaeda's core elements are resilient
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"We have captured or killed numerous senior al-Qaeda operatives, but
al-Qaeda's core elements are resilient. They continue to plot attacks
against our homeland and other targets with the objective of inflicting
mass casualties," Mr Negroponte added.
He did not say where in Pakistan the group's leadership
was hiding, or refer to its chief, Osama Bin Laden, or his
second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, who are wanted for masterminding
the 11 September attacks on Washington and New York.
New job
But the unusually forthright statement by Mr Negroponte
appears to be the first time the US has publicly singled out Pakistan,
one of its key allies, as the current home of al-Qaeda's high command.
Previously, officials had spoken more vaguely about the
group having bases in the mountainous border area between Pakistan and
Afghanistan.
Mr Negroponte is soon to take up a new role at the state department
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"Pakistan is our partner in the war on terror and has captured several
al-Qaeda leaders. However, it is also a major source of Islamic
extremism," Mr Negroponte said in written testimony submitted to the
Senate committee.
Pakistani foreign office spokeswoman Tasneem Aslam rejected the comments.
"Pakistan does not provide a secure hideout to al-Qaeda
or any terrorist group," she said. "In fact the only country that has
been instrumental in breaking the back of al-Qaeda is Pakistan."
Pakistani Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao also played
down Mr Negroponte's comments as "too general", saying that Pakistan
responded to specific information about al-Qaeda members and claiming
that the movement was totally marginalised.
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 Bin Laden and his deputy Zawahiri 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.
Mr Negroponte took charge of the 16 US intelligence
agencies in April 2005, but is shortly due to move to the state
department where he will become Condoleezza Rice's deputy.
President George W Bush last week named retired Navy
Vice Admiral Michael McConnell as the new US national intelligence
director.
Mr Negroponte made the claims about Pakistan in his annual assessment of worldwide threats against the US and its interests.
Is Pakistan a haven for Al Qaeda members? Is
President Musharraf doing enough to fight terrorism? Should the US and
it's allies be doing more? And what about other Islamic countries, are
they providing enough assistance to the US and Pakistan?
The BBC World Service radio programme World Have
Your Say will be discussing this topic at 1800GMT and using comments
left here during the show. As a result comments will not appear on this
page.
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