Pak calls US report on terrorist camp 'absurd'

ISLAMABAD: Terming as "absurd" a US terrorism expert's remarks that satellite pictures hinted at a militant training camp in its territory, Pakistan on Wednesday said Washington should have passed on any such information to it through official channels.

"If US intelligence agencies had detected any such thing in Balakot (in North West Frontier Province), they should have passed on the information to us through official channels," Pakistan defence spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan said.

He was reacting to the deposition of Eric Benn, an expert with the Defence Intelligence Agency, before a court in California this week, that there was as much as a seventy per cent "probability" that satellite images pointed to a militant training camp in Balakot.

"The area of Balakot was extensively seen by all international agencies, including NATO and the US, during the earthquake relief operation in 2005. No such training camp was spotted by them. We reject this malicious report which is aimed at undermining Pakistan's efforts in the fight against terrorism," Sultan was quoted as saying by the Dawn newspaper.

Benn had been testifying at the trial of a 23-year-old Pakistani American Hamid Hayat on terrorism-related charges.

He said although while examining the pictures taken between 2001 and 2004, he did not "detect any formal weapons training", including firing ranges, targets, rocket launchers or explosives testing, it did not mean they were not taking place. The structures and trail in the remote terrain fit the "signature" of "militant training", as opposed to regular training of Pakistani armed forces, Benn told the court.