Al-Qaeda finding its feet again: report

Senior leaders of Al-Qaeda operating from Pakistan have re-established significant control over their once-battered worldwide terror network...

Senior leaders of Al-Qaeda operating from Pakistan have re-established significant control over their once-battered worldwide terror network and over the past year have set up a band of training camps in the tribal regions near the Afghan border, according to American intelligence and counter-terrorism officials.

American officials said there was mounting evidence that Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, had been steadily building an operations hub in the mountainous Pakistani tribal area of North Waziristan. Until recently, the Bush administration had described Bin Laden and Zawahri as detached from their followers and cut off from operational control of Al-Qaeda.

The United States has also identified several new Qaeda compounds in North Waziristan, including one that officials said might be training operatives for strikes against targets beyond Afghanistan.

American analysts said recent intelligence reports showed that the compounds functioned under a loose command structure and were operated by groups of Arab, Pakistani and Afghan militants allied with Al-Qaeda. They receive guidance from their commanders and Zawahri, the analysts said. However, Bin Laden, who has long played less of an operational role, appears to have little direct involvement.

Officials said although the training camps are yet to reach the size and level of sophistication of the Qaeda camps established in Afghanistan under Taliban rule, groups of 10 to 20 men are being trained at the camps. The Qaeda infrastructure in the region is gradually becoming more mature, the officials added.

The new warnings are different from those made in recent months by intelligence officials and terrorism experts. American officials say that the new intelligence is focused on Al-Qaeda and points to the prospect that the terrorist network is gaining in strength despite more than five years of a sustained American-led campaign to weaken it.

The concern about a resurgent Al-Qaeda has been the subject of intensive discussion at high levels of the Bush administration, the officials said, and has reignited debate about how to address Pakistan8217;s role as a haven for militants without undermining the government of Gen Pervez Musharraf.

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Last week, President Bush8217;s senior counter-terrorism adviser, Frances Fragos Townsend, went to Afghanistan during a Middle East trip to meet security officials about rising concerns on Al-Qaeda8217;s resurgence in Afghanistan and Pakistan, an administration official said.

However, debates within the administration about how best to deal with the threat have yet to yield any good solutions, officials in Washington said. One counter-terrorism official said that some within the Pentagon were advocating American strikes against the camps, but that others argued that any raids could result in civilian casualties. And State Department officials say increased American pressure could undermine President Musharraf8217;s military-led government.

8220;The chain of command has been re-established,8221; said one American government official, who said that the Qaeda 8220;leadership command and control is robust.8221;

8211;MARK MAZZETTI 038; DAVID ROHDE