Osama bin Laden hiding in Pakistan: Leon Panetta

Washington, Jun 12: Leon Panetta, the CIA Director on Thursday, Jun 11 said that the US intelligence agency believes al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden is hiding in Pakistan. He added that the agency is hoping that the joint operations with the Pakistani forces will find him.

When the scribes asked the director whether he was sure that Osama was in Pak, he said, "the last information we had, that's still the case." Panetta said finding bin Laden is CIA's 'one of the major priorities'. "One of our hopes is that the Pakistanis move in militarily, combined with our operations, we may be able to have a better chance" to find the al Qaeda leader, he said.

He added that the terrorist outfit al Qaeda, pose the most serious security threat to the United States and its leaders, specially in Pakistan. Panetta said that there are a 'number of people' on the ground in Pak providing intelligence on al Qaeda targets to the US. CIA is also focusing on nations where al Qaeda might find a safe haven, like Somalia and Yemen.

OneIndia News