After US, UK also expresses concern at Qaeda planning attacks from Pak tribal areas

Peshawar, June 12 : After the US, the UK has also expressed concerns at Pakistan's tribal areas being used by international terror organization Al Qaeda in planning attacks on the West

British High Commissioner in Islamabad Robert Brinkley last evening said that Qaeda was planning attacks on West from Pakistani soil. "We are very concerned about the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) because they are being used by Al Qaeda and its allies to plot attacks. It is very important that this space that is being used to plot attacks is increasingly reduced," the Daily Times quoted Brinkley as saying.

Brinkley said this at a news conference following meetings with NWFP Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani and Chief Minister Ameer Haider Hoti.

Brinkley's concerns follow a senior US military commander's statement issued on Tuesday. US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Michael Mullen had said: "I believe fundamentally that if the US is going to get hit, it is going to come out of the planning of the leadership in FATA. That is a threat to us that must be dealt with."

Brinkley further said that Al Qaeda was using Pakistan's Tribal Areas to "plot terrorist attacks" in the West, including the Great Britain. He also said that the issue of militancy both in Pakistan and Afghanistan was "complex and deep-rooted".

British Ambassador to Afghanistan Sir Sherrard Cowper Coles was also present at the news conference, who in a brief statement said: "I am here to listen and learn."

ANI