Al-Qaida Plans to shift the base to urban Pak

The terror group Al-Qaida is planning to gradually shifting its base from the unsafe and spy-infested tribal belt of Pakistan to "more secure urban areas of the country" like the port city of Karachi that cannot be targeted by US drones, according to a media report on Wednesday.

Al-Qaida had operated in the volatile tribal areas bordering Afghanistan with "near impunity" during 2001-08 "but they are on the move, communicating via couriers and moving stealthily in small groups to urban areas", a former Western intelligence official was quoted as saying by the Daily Times newspaper. The daily quoted its sources as saying that al-Qaida operatives were now mostly migrating to Karachi, which has a large Pashtun population.

The newspaper said its in-depth investigations had confirmed the presence of senior al-Qaida members and the top leadership of the Afghan Taliban — including members of the Quetta-based "shura" or council — at safe houses located on the outskirts of Karachi. Drone attacks had become so central to the US administration's strategy that the frequency of missile strikes in Pakistan has been doubled to inflict maximum damage on al Qaeda in the past two years.

Al Qaeda, which recently lost its no 3 Mustafa Abu al-Yazid in a drone attack, decided to sacrifice its prime asset Humam Khalil abu Mulal al-Balazi, who worked as a double agent for both the Jordanian intelligence and the CIA, to carry out a suicide attack at a CIA base in Afghanistan on December 30, 2009. The attack killed seven officers and contractors who were believed to be at the heart of the covert programme overseeing US drone strikes in Pakistan.