*Al-Qaeda 'rebuilding' in Pakistan*

The head of US spying operations says the leaders of al-Qaeda have found
a secure hideout in Pakistan from where they are rebuilding their strength.

National Intelligence Director John Negroponte said al-Qaeda was
strengthening its ties across the Middle East, North Africa and Europe.

Pakistan rejected the comments, which are the most specific on the issue
yet.

This week, the US carried out air strikes in Somalia targeting what it
believed to be members of al-Qaeda.

The BBC's James Westhead in Washington says that until now the US has
not been so specific about where it believes al-Qaeda's leaders are hiding.

Such a claim will be embarrassing for Pakistani President Pervez
Musharraf, who Mr Negroponte described as a key partner in America's war
on terror, our correspondent says.

Afghanistan has welcomed the comments. President Hamid Karzai's
chief-of-staff, Jawed Ludin, told the BBC that Afghanistan had long
maintained that the Islamic militants operated from within Pakistan, and
that Mr Negroponte's statement was refreshing in its honesty.

'Secure hide-out'

Mr Negroponte told a Senate committee that al-Qaeda was still the
militant organisation that "poses the greatest threat to US interests".

"They are cultivating stronger operational connections and relationships
that radiate outward from their leaders' secure hideout in Pakistan to
affiliates throughout the Middle East, North Africa and Europe," he said.

We have captured or killed numerous senior al-Qaeda operatives, but
al-Qaeda's core elements are resilient
John Negroponte

Is Pakistan helping Al-Qaeda?

"We have captured or killed numerous senior al-Qaeda operatives, but
al-Qaeda's core elements are resilient. They continue to plot attacks
against our homeland and other targets with the objective of inflicting
mass casualties," Mr Negroponte added.

He did not say where in Pakistan the group's leadership was hiding, or
refer to its chief, Osama Bin Laden, or his second-in-command, Ayman
al-Zawahiri, who are wanted for masterminding the 11 September attacks
on Washington and New York.

New job

But the unusually forthright statement by Mr Negroponte appears to be
the first time the US has publicly singled out Pakistan, one of its key
allies, as the current home of al-Qaeda's high command.

Previously, officials had spoken more vaguely about the group having
bases in the mountainous border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

John Negroponte
Mr Negroponte is soon to take up a new role at the state department

"Pakistan is our partner in the war on terror and has captured several
al-Qaeda leaders. However, it is also a major source of Islamic
extremism," Mr Negroponte said in written testimony submitted to the
Senate committee.

Pakistani foreign office spokeswoman Tasneem Aslam rejected the comments.

"Pakistan does not provide a secure hideout to al-Qaeda or any terrorist
group," she said. "In fact the only country that has been instrumental
in breaking the back of al-Qaeda is Pakistan."

Pakistani Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao also played down Mr
Negroponte's comments as "too general", saying that Pakistan responded
to specific information about al-Qaeda members and claiming that the
movement was totally marginalised.

Difficult border

The head of the US Defence Intelligence Agency, Lt-Gen Michael Maples,
said Pakistan's border with Afghanistan remained a haven for al-Qaeda
and other militants.

The tribal areas on the border are thought to be where al-Qaeda leader
Bin Laden and his deputy Zawahiri could be hiding.

Pakistan and Afghanistan share a 1,400-mile (2,250km) mountainous border
which is extremely difficult to patrol.

Taleban and al-Qaeda fighters are thought to be operating on both sides.

The two countries regularly exchange charge and counter-charge over who
is to blame for the violence.

Recently, Pakistan reiterated its intention to fence and mine sections
of the troubled border.

Kabul particularly opposes the idea of mining stretches of the frontier,
saying it will endanger civilian lives.

An Islamist insurgency spearheaded by the resurgent Taleban militia is
at its strongest in the southern Afghan provinces bordering Pakistan.

Mr Negroponte took charge of the 16 US intelligence agencies in April
2005, but is shortly due to move to the state department where he will
become Condoleezza Rice's deputy.

President George W Bush last week named retired Navy Vice Admiral
Michael McConnell as the new US national intelligence director.

Mr Negroponte made the claims about Pakistan in his annual assessment of
worldwide threats against the US and its interests.