US piles on pressure on Pak to pound terror training camps

Washington, May 7 (ANI): Amidst the wide scale outburst against Pakistan that it has to act against terror breeding groups flourishing on its soil especially after the failed New York bombing, the United States has stressed that Islamabad must not hesitate to take on the extremists threatening it and the world.

Addressing a regular press briefing here, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell romped up pressure on Pakistan to take stiff measures against terror training camps operating in the country.

Referring to the Times Square bombing plot, Morrell said the incident underlines the need for "all to continue aggressive operations in going after terrorists wherever they reside".

He parried questions over the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operated drone strikes in Pakistan, but added that the incident would 'reinvigorate' both Washington and Islamabad to confront these threats more effectively.

Separately, Michele Flournoy, Under-secretary of Defence for Policy, also denied to comment on reports that US is contemplating expanding drone strikes in Pakistan's tribal egions, but admitted that the Obama Administration is concerned over the presence of militant training camps in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

"Afghanistan-Pakistan, that border region, has been the sort of locus of the sort of heartland, if you will, of Al Qaeda for many years," Flourney said while testifying before the House Armed Services Committee.

"And so I think denying them sanctuary and safe haven there, disrupting them there has a powerful impact on the global network," The Dawn quoted her, as adding.

Meanwhile, media reports quoting some 'unidentified' US officials said that the Obama administration had quietly allowed the CIA to expand drone strikes in Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal regions along the country's border with Afghanistan. (ANI)