ISLAMABAD, 14 December 2004 — Authorities here yesterday denied a US newspaper report that the CIA has set up covert bases in the country’s remote tribal regions to hunt for Osama Bin Laden and stop him from plotting another attack on the United States.
The report in yesterday’s New York Times, citing anonymous US officials, said the CIA had concluded Bin Laden was being sheltered by tribesmen and foreign militants in northwestern Pakistan. It said he was suspected of controlling an elite terrorist cell that could be aiming to launch a “spectacular” attack on the United States.
President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who has faced heavy criticism at home for his strong ties with Washington, has previously acknowledged that a small number of American experts were working with Pakistani troops in operations against Al-Qaeda militants.
“There are no CIA cells in Pakistan ... in our tribal areas, and there is absolutely no truth in this New York Times report,” said army spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan.
Both US and Pakistani generals have said Bin Laden’s trail has gone cold in the more than three years since US forces toppled the Taleban in Afghanistan for harboring him. Some believe Bin Laden is hiding along the rugged border.
A senior Pakistani counterterrorism official said yesterday US officials had not found intelligence on Bin Laden’s whereabouts, although their information had helped nab some Al-Qaeda suspects in Pakistan.
