Osama operation: ISI nabs CIA informants

KABUL): The Inter-Services Intelligence has detained five individuals suspected of leaking information on Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to the American spy agency, in the months leading up to the Abbottabad operation, a US newspaper reported late on Tuesday.

A Pakistani army major, who copied the licence plates of cars entering and leaving the compound in the northwestern garrison city, was among the five CIA informants, the New York Times said, citing unnamed sources.

Obama administration officials told the daily that CIA Director Leon E. Panetta took up the issue of arrests, illustrating tensions between the allies in the war on terror, with Pakistan‘s political and military leaders during his last week’s visit to Islamabad.

Mike Rogers, a Michigan Republican who leads the House Intelligence Committee, on Tuesday blamed some ISI‘s top fugitive.

On the other hand, CIA spokeswoman Marie E. Harf said: “We have a strong relationship with our Pakistani counterparts and work through issues when they arise. Director Panetta had productive meetings last week in Islamabad…”

Speaking to the Times, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States Husain Haqqani said in the CIA and ISI were working out mutually agreeable terms for cooperation in combating terrorism. “It is not appropriate for us to get into the details at this stage.”

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