Washington: The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has been launching drone strikes in Pakistan’s tribal region from Afghanistan’s Jalalabad area for three months; Washington Post quoted US and Pakistani officials as saying.
The post reported that The CIA has suspended its use of an Shamsi Air Base in Pakistan as a launch site for armed drones.
The newspaper said Pakistan in recent days has publicly declared that it “ended” all US flights from the base in the wake of the secret US commando raid that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in May.
The post while quoting intelligence officials reported the drone strikes from Pakistan base had been halted in April after a CIA agent killed two youths in Lahore in late January.
The New America Foundation, which tracks the strikes, has listed 23 such raids since the beginning of April, all but one in Pakistan’s tribal regions of North and South Waziristan. A June 20 attack was reported in Kurram, an area above North Waziristan along the Afghanistan border.
