Washington: Amid reports of the leak of US intelligence information about bomb-making factories in Pakistan's tribal areas, a top American Senator has claimed that elements in ISI were tipping off terrorist outfits.
"I think it either comes right out of the ISI or it comes from the ISI having to warn or alert a tribal leader that the military is moving into that area for a mission, and the tribal leader alerts the IED manufacturer and they scatter," Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein told MSNBC.
Feinstein, who chairs Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, was responding to questions on the reported leak of US intelligence information given to Pakistan about four bomb-making factories in the tribal areas of the country.
By the time security forces reached the locations, the bomb-making factories had been closed and militants were absent.
"It's really very concerning, because I know a little bit of the background that I can't speak about... I think it's either out of the ISI directly or it comes from the ISI -- and this is according to the Army Times, which I've just read --that the military alerts the tribal leader of the area in North Waziristan where they're coming, the Haqqani, and then clear out whatever they think the IED is being built.
"And that's usually in a school or some other place that has serious collateral damage attached to it. I'm saying in my judgment it is either-or, because someone is tipping off the IED maker. And the IED makers are gone when the Pakistani military gets to the base that we are working together on," she said.
In other words, the United States provides the intelligence to ISI, which then asks the military to move in.
"When the military move in, the facility they move in to take down has already been cleared of all personnel and all munitions," the Senator said.
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