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Published 17 Jun, 2011 09:03pm

‘Two of four bomb factories razed on US tip-off’

ISLAMABAD, June 17: The army said on Friday it had acted on American intelligence about bomb factories in Waziristan and neutralised two of them, but denied US media reports that the information was leaked to militants.

“Intelligence information was received regarding four compounds suspected of being used as IED making facilities,” the ISPR said in a statement.

The army’s response, to the allegations about militants being tipped off about the information shared by the US on the bomb-making sites and enabling them to escape before raids by Pakistani forces, came almost a week after CIA Director Leon Panetta visited Islamabad.

Mr Panetta is said to have confronted Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and ISI head Gen Shuja Pasha with what the American media claimed to be the proof of collusion with militants in the shape of video images of terrorists leaving two explosives factories after the tip-off.

“This assertion (collusion with militants) is totally false and malicious and the facts on ground are contrary to it,” an ISPR spokesman said.

Of the four suspected sites indicated by the US, the spokesman said: “Operations were launched on all. Two were found to be used as IED making facilities and have been destroyed. Information on the other two proved to be incorrect.”

The ISPR claimed that some militants had also been arrested during the raids and they were currently being interrogated by security agencies.

The army statement was the latest in a series of denials on reports in the media after strains in Pak-US relations over trouble intelligence cooperation in the aftermath of May 2 US Abbottabad raid on Osama Bin Laden’s compound.

The media reports, most of which were attributed to unnamed American officials, cast the country’s military and intelligence in a negative light and accused them of double-dealing.

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