The Hindu : Front Page : Satellite pictures `show' Pakistan has terror camp

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 02, 2006

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Satellite pictures `show' Pakistan has terror camp

Washington: Pakistan's claim that it does not have terrorist training camps in its territory has been strongly contested in the United States.

A court was told that satellite pictures pointed to existence of such a camp.

Camp near Balakot

In the trial of 23-year-old Pakistani American Hamid Hayat, accused of terrorism-related charges, Defence Intelligence Agency's expert Eric Benn said there was a 70 per cent "probability" that the satellite images pointed to a militant training camp near Balakot in northeast Pakistan.

Much to Pakistan's embarrassment, Mr. Benn told the district court in California that although 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.

Militant training

The structures and trail in the remote terrain fit the "signature of militant training," as opposed to regular training of Pakistani armed forces, he said.

Hamid's sentencing has been postponed by the court by four months to November and his father Umer Hayat, who at one time was charged with lying to federal authorities, is being retried after the first round ended in a hung jury, according to media reports.

The allegation against Hamid has been that from California's Lodi area, which has a small Pakistani immigrant community, the 23-year-old went to Pakistan to attend a religious school and training for terrorism with the intent of returning to the U.S. to commit violent acts. — PTI

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