'Al Qaeda expanding, regrouping in western Pak'

The Bush administration has said that despite three-quarters of Al Qaeda's known leadership having been either killed or captured, the terrorist outfit has actually expanded, and is regrouping in western Pakistan.

In an indictment of its ally in the war on terror, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said at a press briefing that 'within the last year or so, we have seen more defined training capabilities of Al Qaeda in western Pakistan, along with Taliban safe havens there.'

Gates earlier told a Senate Panel on Appropriations that going after Al Qaeda was still a priority.

"They have established linkages now in North Africa. So Al Qaeda has actually expanded its organisation and capabilities," he said.

The defence secretary said he has directed intelligence groups to analyse Al Qaeda's resurgence along three lines.

"Places where we know there are Al Qaeda cells and Al Qaeda planning going on, Al Qaeda organisation is in place; countries where there are terrorist organisations that are not Al Qaeda but affiliated with Al Qaeda; and third, those countries where there are terrorist cells that would like to become affiliated with Al Qaeda but have not been admitted to membership yet.

"So there are three different levels of activity. And it covers most of the countries of the Middle East. It covers several countries in Europe, and so on," he said during an interaction with the media on Wednesday.

Earlier, appearing before the Senate Sub Committee on Appropriations defending his nearly one-half trillion dollar Defence budget -- minus the supplements -- the top Bush administration official was asked about the threat from Al Qaeda, its network around the world and especially in Pakistan.

"We are still going after the Al Qaeda leadership. It is in a difficult area, both in terms of terrain and in terms of politics, in terms of our ability to range freely in that area. Most of it is in, as I indicated earlier, the western part of Pakistan, in the federal-administered territories. But we do have military operations that are planned, both in Iraq and elsewhere in the region -- not just in north Waziristan and Iraq -- but in other places as well, to go after Al Qaeda leadership," Gates told the panel.