US Intelligence and communication personnel are helping Pakistani forces search for al-Qaida militants in the lawless northern strip of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan, Pakistani officials said on Friday. Three officials, who spoke separately on condition of anonymity, confirmed local news report that a small US force was active in the region in the hunt for associates of Osama bin Laden. Their comments appeared to advance what US officials have been saying. that four well-placed government officials in Washington said on Thursday that American troops were preparing -but had not yet begun - to go after al-Qaida members in the border region inside Pakistan. With militant Pakistani Muslims opposed to any US presence in the hunt for al-Qaida in Pakistan, the issue is sensitive for the President, Gen Pervez Musharraf, particularly ahead of next Tuesday's referendum, in which he is seeking to extend his presidency for another five years. A government spokesman, Aziz Ahmad Khan, on Friday said that only Pakistani personnel were searching suspected members of al-Qaida in country's tribal areas. No US security personnel are on Pakistan's soil for hunting al-Qaida men, Khan told the Associated Press. But the other officials, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity, stood by their version - that a small contingent of US personnel was on the ground and actively participating in the search.
Bureau Report