CIA secretly using Pak airbase to fly drones

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has secretly been using an airbase in southwestern Pakistan to launch the Predator drones to attack the militants within the country, a report said. Both Pakistan and US governments have repeatedly denied that Washington is conducting military operations, covert or otherwise, on Pakistani territory.

But The Times report on Wednesday says that it has discovered that the CIA has been using the Shamsi airfield, 30 miles from the Afghan border, in the southwestern province of Baluchistan for at least a year.

The strip allows US forces to launch a Drone within minutes of receiving actionable intelligence as well as allowing them to attack targets further a field, the report said. The report quoted Major General Athar Abbas, chief military spokesman, confirming that US forces were using Shamsi adding, that "The airfield is being used only for logistics."

"The Americans were also using another airbase near Jacobabad, 300 miles northeast of Karachi, for logistics and military operations," the report quoted Abbas as saying.

"We can see the planes flying from the base. The area around the base is a high-security zone and no one is allowed there." Safar Khan, a local journalist in Shamsi said.

The key to The Times investigation was the an unexplained delivery of 730,000 gallons of F34 aviation fuel to Shamsi airfield, details of which were found on the Pentagon's fuel procurement agency website.