US sends spies into Pakistan to kill bin Laden
By Toby Harnden in Washington and Thomas Coghlan in Helmand
03/09/07 "The
Telegraph" -- -- America is stepping up its hunt
for Osama bin Laden by dispatching additional CIA operatives and
paramilitary officers to Pakistan to kill or capture the al-Qa'eda
leader.
US officials said that the mission is intended to intensify the
pressure on the terrorist leader, who turns 50 tomorrow, and
perhaps force him into making a mistake. He is widely believed
to be hiding in the region bordering Afghanistan.
Satellite photographs and details of communications intercepts
were given to President Musharraf of Pakistan last week by
Stephen Kappes, deputy director of the CIA, as part of a
strategy to persuade him to give US intelligence agencies more
assistance.
Mr Kappes, a Middle East specialist who has served in Pakistan,
travelled to Islamabad to brief Gen Musharraf along with Vice
President Dick Cheney. His detailed presentation showed evidence
of al-Qa'eda building its strength on Pakistani soil.
"Reports that the trail has gone stone cold are not correct," an
American official said afterwards. "We are very much increasing
our efforts there."
Mr Kappes also met members of Pakistan's Inter-Services
Intelligence agency (ISI) and operatives from the CIA's
Islamabad station to discuss co-ordinating efforts to track bin
Laden.
The decision to send such a senior intelligence officer to brief
Mr Musharraf is an indication of the Bush administration's
increasing concern about the borderlands between Pakistan and
Afghanistan.
Last week, Adml Mike McConnell, the new US Director of National
Intelligence, told a Senate committee that bin Laden, who turns
50 tomorrow, is in Pakistan and actively re-establishing al-Qa'eda
training camps there.
It was the most specific information about bin Laden given by a
US official for several years and prompted speculation that
surveillance photographs of the al-Qa'eda leader or his deputy
might have been obtained.
Adml McConnell said of the Pakistani tribal area that "to the
best of our knowledge the senior leadership, Number One and
Number Two, are there, and they are attempting to re-establish
and rebuild and to establish training camps."
Intelligence officials have indicated that bin Laden has
previously chosen March to switch locations, moving to hiding
places in the mountains once the snow cover begins to melt. He
is likely to be at his most vulnerable when on the move.
Adml McConnell said he would focus with "great intensity" on al-Qa'eda
in Pakistan. "There are a number of plans and activities that
have been shut down or disrupted. And the intent on our part is
to do that more and better, and hopefully at some point either
killing or capturing the senior leadership."
News of the operation came as a British soldier was killed in a
grenade attack on his base in southern Afghanistan - the 52nd to
die in service in the country since the US-led invasion in 2001.
The Ministry of Defence said that the serviceman, from 29
Commando Regiment Royal Artillery, died from his wounds after
being airlifted from the town of Sangeen to the military
hospital at Camp Bastion, the main British base in Helmand
province. His next of kin were notified but he is yet to be
named by the MoD.
Bin Laden has evaded capture and assassination ever since
President Bill Clinton signed a secret order authorising the CIA
to kill him.
While President George W. Bush said after the September 11
attacks that bin Laden was wanted "dead or alive", US military
and intelligence might have failed to carry out the order more
than five years after the terrorist leader fled for his life
after the invasion of Afghanistan and the collapse of his
Taliban allies.
Now the Bush administration is redoubling its efforts.
"Reports that the trail has gone stone cold are not correct," an
American official said.
• Former US Navy sailor Hassan Abujihaad, formerly known as Paul
R. Hall, has been arrested for supplying a pro-al-Qa'eda website
with information on US ship movements and vulnerabilities, US
justice authorities said.
Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited
Click here
to comment on this and other articles
In accordance
with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material
is distributed without profit to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving the
included information for research and educational
purposes. Information Clearing House has no
affiliation whatsoever with the originator of
this article nor is Information ClearingHouse
endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
|
