NEW DELHI, June 19 (UNI) The Al Qaeda has reconstituted a majorterrorist training camp inside Pakistan after the September 11attacks with activists being trained to carry out terror strikesin several places, including Kashmir, according to a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) affidavit.
The FBI, which released the affidavit in connection with the arrests of US citizen Hamid Hayat (24) and his father Umer Hayat (47), asserts that the Al Qaeda was still capable of operating a significant training facility inside Pakistan, Pakistan-based 'the Daily Times' has said in a report.
The report quoted evidence from the probe into a suspected Islamic jihad group in California.
The report said Hamid voluntarily agreed to be questioned by the FBI on June 4 and also agreed to take a polygraph.
The polygraph examiner concluded Hamid was being deceptive.
After two hours of questioning, Hamid broke down and "admitted that he had attended a jihadi training camp in Pakistan".
According to the report, he also told the FBI that at the camp, attendees were asked to choose the places in which they wanted to carry out their jihad with the choices including the United States, Afghanistan, Iraq, Kashmir and other countries.
Released on Tuesday night, the affidavit said Hamid told FBI agents that he spent six months at an Al Qaeda-backed training camp in Pakistan, where he saw "hundreds of people from all over the world." He described the camp as a facility that provided "structured paramilitary training", including training in weapons, explosives and hand-to-hand combat, adding that photos of US President George Bush and other high-ranking US political figures were "pasted as targets".
According to the report, the affidavit does not place where the terror camp was situated or how long US officials have known about its existence.
The report, quoting an FBI spokesman, said all such details were classified.
However, last year the US Department of Homeland Security directed customs agents to inspect all Pakistani descent travellers for rope burns, unusual bruises and scars, which might signify the traveller spent time in an Islamic militant training camp.
The evidence of a large Al Qaeda training camp, if confirmed, could prove diplomatically and politically embarrassing, the report said.
"The State Department's annual counter-terrorism report released last month had praised President Pervez Musharraf's government for aggressively pursuing Al Qaeda, singling out in particular last year's Pakistan Army raids on Al Qaeda safe havens in South Waziristan," it said.
The report makes no reference to any suspected Al Qaeda training camps in the country.
The report quoting a senior US counter-terrorism official, asking not to be named, said the US intelligence agencies had information indicating that after 9/11, the Al Qaeda forces driven out of Afghanistan had established "sanctuaries in South Waziristan's remote Shakai area".
The official said the Pakistani military raids last year were designed to "flush out" and destroy such camps and US officials believe that the initiative successfully routed Al Qaeda forces out of the area.
The FBI affidavit asserted that Hamid had been on the Department of Homeland Security's "no fly" list when he boarded an airplane in Korea on his way back from Pakistan two weeks ago.
However, it does not say why Hamid was on the list.
The affidavit says that when US authorities realised Hamid was on the plane, they diverted it to Japan, where he was interviewed by an FBI agent, and then downgraded to a "Selectee List," that prompts close scrutiny of travellers but does not prohibit them from flying into the country.
The report said that after being shown a video of his son's confession, Umer Hayat confirmed that his son had attended such a camp and also admitted that he provided his son an allowance of 100 dollars per month, knowing that his intention was to attend a jiahdi training camp.
