Obama's secret death warrant on al-Awlaki revealed

President Obama's secret memorandum authorising the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki was only legally valid if he could not be taken alive, it has emerged.

The legal writ, issued by the Justice Department, tackled the issues surrounding the targeted killing of a U.S. citizen by the American government - on the surface an unconstitutional act.



The issuing of the document followed fraught negotiations between administration officials and lawyers at the DOJ.Constitutional? Anwar al-Awlaki - a U.S. born citizen - was killed using secret authorisation from the justice department

Killed: Anwar al-Awlaki, left, and Osama bin Laden have both died following attacks by the U.S.legal? Officials at both the White House and the Justice Department have since refused all requests to answer how fifth amendment rights - guaranteeing a fair trial for all U.S. citizens - were satisfied by the secret memorandum

Officials at both the White House and the Justice Department have since refused all requests to answer how fifth amendment rights - guaranteeing a fair trial for all U.S. citizens - were satisfied by the secret memorandum.

The New York Times revealed more information regarding the secret document today.

The paper reported the roughly 50-page document was completed by the DOJ's legal Counsel around June last year.

According to the paper: 'The deliberations to craft the memo included meetings in the White House Situation Room involving top lawyers for the Pentagon, State Department, National Security Council and intelligence agencies.

'It was principally drafted by David Barron and Martin Lederman, who were both lawyers in the Office of Legal Counsel at the time, and was signed by Mr. Barron.'

The news follows the revelation that American militants like Anwar al-Awlaki are placed on a kill or capture list by a secretive panel of senior government aides.

Once the panel adds a terror suspect to its list it then informs the president, White House officials told Reuters.

There is no public record of the operations or decisions of the panel, which is a subset of the White House's National Security Council.

Neither is there any law establishing its existence or setting out the rules by which it is supposed to operate.

The panel was behind the decision to add Awlaki, a U.S.-born militant preacher with alleged al Qaeda connections, to the target list. He was killed by a CIA drone strike in Yemen late last month.

The role of the president in ordering or ratifying a decision to target a citizen is fuzzy. White House spokesman Tommy Vietor declined to discuss anything about the process.

Current and former officials said that to the best of their knowledge, Awlaki, who the White House said was a key figure in al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, al Qaeda's Yemen-based affiliate, had been the only American put on a government list targeting people for capture or death due to their alleged involvement with militants.

Pakistan arrests CIA’s bin Laden informants

Members of the anti-terrorism squad are seen surrounding the compound where al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed in Abbottabad May 4, 2011.


Pakistan’s top military spy agency has arrested five CIA informants who fed information to the US spy agency before the raid last month which killed Osama bin Laden, The New York Times reported today.

One of the detainees was reported to be a Pakistani Army major whom officials said copied license plates of cars visiting the al Qaeda leader’s compound 30 miles northwest of Islamabad.

The fate of the CIA informants arrested in Pakistan is unclear, the newspaper reported, citing American officials.

Outgoing CIA Director Leon Panetta raised the issue of the informants’ detention during a trip to Islamabad last week where he met with Pakistani military and intelligence officers, the newspaper said.

Some in Washington see the arrest as another sign of the deep disconnect between US and Pakistani priorities in the fight against extremists, the Times reported.

The United States kept Islamabad in the dark about the May 2 raid by Navy SEALs until after it was completed, humiliating Pakistan’s armed forces and putting US military and intelligence ties under serious strain.



Last week, at a closed Senate Intelligence Committee briefing, Deputy CIA Director Michael Morell rated Pakistan’s cooperation with the United States on counterterrorism operations a “three” on a scale of 1 to 10, the Times reported, citing officials familiar with the exchange.

Other officials cautioned that his comments did not represent the administration’s overall assessment, the newspaper said. “We have a strong relationship with our Pakistani counterparts and work through issues when they arise,” CIA spokesman Marie Harf told the newspaper.

“Director Panetta had productive meetings last week in Islamabad. It’s a crucial partnership, and we will continue to work together in the fight against Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups who threaten our country and theirs.”

Asked about the Times report, a CIA spokeswoman neither confirmed nor denied it and said she had no further comment.

Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States, Husain Haqqani, was quoted as saying that the CIA and the Pakistani spy agency “are working out mutually agreeable terms for their cooperation in fighting the menace of terrorism. It is not appropriate for us to get into the details at this stage.”

President Obama and PM Cameron dish up burgers at honouring American and British veterans in UK Visit.

* Taliban must make 'decisive split' with al Qaida, says Cameron in joint press conference with Obama after garden party

Forget table tennis - this is the ultimate photo opportunity for Barack Obama and David Cameron.

The UK and U.S. leaders forged a special culinary relationship today as they manned the grill at a barbecue in honour of servicemen in the garden at No. 10.

It was a moment of fun after this morning's in-depth talks on issues ranging from military campaigns in Libya and Afghanistan to global economic reform.

 Obama and Cameron diligently serve a burger to a soldier wounded in service during the garden party

 U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama and Samantha Cameron, wife of the Prime Minister, serve food at the barbecue for British and American service members and veterans

 Michelle Obama, the wife of the U.S. President, and Samantha Cameron, wife of the Prime Minister, pose with their husbands on the steps of 10 Downing Street yesterday

 U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton walks with British Foreign Secretary William Hague to join Obama at 10 Downing Street

 Mr Obama made the short journey in Cadillac One - his bombproof limousine known as 'The Beast' - from Buckingham Palace

Mr Obama's motorcade travels along the Mall as it leaves Buckingham Palace to go to Downing Street this morning

Barack Obama and David Cameron serve food from a barbecue as they entertain British and American service members and veterans at 10 Downing Street today

 Obama and Cameron wave to members of the media outside the Prime Minister's official residence, prior to their meeting

Mr Obama speaks during a joint press conference with David Cameron at Lancaster House today. The Prime Minister said the next 12 months represented a 'vital year' in Afghanistan

The pair gamely served the cooked meat at the lunch party while their wives, Samantha and Michelle, spooned side dishes onto the plates of 150 American and British service members.

The Prime Minister and the President appeared at ease as they performed their catering duties in shirt sleeves, chatting and laughing while they worked.

Even the menu appeared to reflect the strong transatlantic bond the two countries have insisted upon so firmly, featuring both British and American dishes.

British sausages, Kentish rosemary lamb chops and hot Jersey Royal potatoes were served with American staples such as hamburgers, corn on the cob and coleslaw.

There was also a tomato, mozzarella and basil salad and Caesar salad, followed by a dessert of summer berries and vanilla ice-cream.

The bilateral partnership was further symbolised by the interspersed Union flag and Stars and Stripes bunting draped overhead.

Both leaders worked together to pile food on to one wounded soldier's plate, as other guests queued at the food-laden tables.

Following the barbecue, Obama and Cameron gave a joint press conference in which the Prime Minister said Taliban must make a 'decisive split' with al Qaida if a political settlement in Afghanistan is to be brokered.

Speaking outside Lancaster House in London, Mr Cameron said the U.S. operation against Osama bin Laden represented a 'strike right at the heart of international terrorism'.

Mr Cameron said the next 12 months represented a 'vital year' in Afghanistan, while British and American troops had 'broken the momentum of the insurgency' in the country.

In the Taliban heartland of Kandahar and central Helmand, the insurgents were 'on the back foot', the Prime Minister said.

Calling for a political settlement, he told the press conference: 'Now is the moment to step up our efforts to reach a political settlement.

Obama arrived at Downing Street before 10am this morning for discussions with Cameron as he got down to the real political business of his state visit.

During the talks, the U.S. President insisted the alliance between America and the UK is key to providing global security after a 'difficult decade'.

Nick Clegg proved that three isn't always a crowd as he joined the leaders and was seen sharing a joke with the President.

Mr Obama was smiling broadly after making the short journey in Cadillac One - his bombproof limousine known as 'The Beast' - from Buckingham Palace.

The leaders greeted each other with a handshake before Mr Obama patted the Prime Minister on the shoulder.

They then shook hands again on the steps of No. 10 but they were not joined by Mr Cameron's wife Samantha and Michelle Obama.

Both men waved to the army of press photographers gathered on the opposite pavement before walking inside, Mr Obama placing his hand on Mr Cameron's back as they did so.

Helicopters whirred overhead, taking part in the major security operation to protect the President during his visit.

Mr Obama and Mr Cameron are to spend the morning holding talks before a joint press conference in Downing Street which is bound to be studied intently for clues to the strength of their 'special relationship'.

The highlight of the day is lik

He is expected to tell MPs and peers that even though the world has changed significantly since the Second World War, the UK-US relationship and the broader transatlantic alliance is still the 'cornerstone of global security'.

The 'Arab Spring' in the Middle East and North Africa reinforce that the allies' shared beliefs are 'not just relevant but essential', he is to say.

The president will also strike an optimistic note by claiming that the world is 'turning a corner' following a 'difficult decade'.

As well as operations winding down in Iraq, the shift to Afghanistan taking control of its own security has begun, and al Qaida has been 'weakened' by successes such as the recent killing of Osama bin Laden.

Yesterday, large parts of central London were brought to a standstill as crowds gathered to welcome the president for his first state visit.

After being greeted by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh at Buckingham Palace, the president and first lady met newlyweds the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge before Mr Obama laid a wreath at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey.

Mr Obama and Mr Cameron then dropped in on a south London school where they took off their jackets to play two schoolboys at table tennis.

But the Anglo-American team took a sound beating at the hands of 16-year-olds Jason Do and Jamiyu Mojaji at the Globe Academy in Southwark.

Mr and Mrs Obama then attended a star-studded state banquet in the president's honour at Buckingham Palace last night as the Queen hailed the US as Britain's 'most important ally'.

She insisted the relationship was 'tried, tested and, yes, special' and the two nations together contributed to security and prosperity of the world.

'I firmly believe that the strength of our links and many shared interests will continue to ensure that when the United States and the United Kingdom stand together, our people and other people of goodwill around the world will be more secure and more prosperous,' the Queen said.

Responding with his own toast, Mr Obama spoke of the 'rock-solid foundation' between the two countries.

'From that day to this, you have been our closest partner in the struggle to protect our people from terrorism attacks and violent extremism from around the world despite very heavy sacrifices here,' the president said.

'As we confront the challenges of the 21st century together we have can confidence in the partnership our two countries share, based on a rock-solid foundation built during Queen Elizabeth's lifetime of extraordinary service to her nation and to the world.'

Mr Cameron and Mr Obama sat down for talks in the White Room of No 10 shortly before 10am this morning.

As about a dozen photographers took pictures at the start of the meeting, the president joked: 'All right guys, one of those must have worked.'

Foreign Secretary William Hague and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton followed the two leaders into Number 10 half an hour later.

Mrs Clinton waved briefly and smiled as she entered.

Earlier, the smartly dressed driver of the president's vehicle brushed down its shiny exterior as she waited for him outside the Prime Minister's residence.

Mr Obama and Mr Cameron were joined by Nick Clegg at about 10.15am.

Shaking hands with the Deputy Prime Minister, the US leader said: 'Wonderful to see you.'

Mr Clegg, gesturing to the sunlit windows, said: 'You've brought the sun today.'

At about 10.40am, the President, Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister moved to the Cabinet Room for talks on security with other ministers, advisers and officials.

Mr Cameron and Mr Obama sat opposite each other in the centre of the coffin-shaped Cabinet table, the Prime Minister flanked by Mr Clegg and Mr Hague, and the President by Mrs Clinton and the U.S. Ambassador to London, Louis Susman.

Other British ministers attending included Chancellor George Osborne and Home Secretary Theresa May.

Obama: Would raid Pakistan again if militant found

President Barack Obama is seen being interviewed by Britian’s Andrew Marr of the BBC in the Diplomatic Reception Room in the White House, in Washington on May 21, 2011..


US President Barack Obama would approve a new incursion into Pakistan if the United States found another leading militant there, he said in a BBC interview broadcast today.

US Navy Seals killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, mastermind of the September 11 attacks on US cities in 2001, in a raid on his fortified compound in Pakistan on May 2, ending a manhunt for the world’s most-wanted militant.



Asked if Obama would do the same again if the United States discovered another “high-value target” in Pakistan or another country, such as a senior al Qaeda member or Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar, he said he would “take the shot”.

“We are very respectful of the sovereignty of Pakistan. But we cannot allow someone who is actively planning to kill our people or our allies’ people, we can’t allow those kind of active plans to come to fruition without us taking some action,” Obama told the BBC.

“I had made no secret. I had said this when I was running for the presidency, that if I had a clear shot at bin Laden, that we’d take it.”

Obama’s comments echoed those of US Senator John Kerry, a Democrat close to his administration and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Asked this month if the United States would conduct a similar raid in Pakistan to kill Omar if they knew his whereabouts, he said Washington would consider all its options.

US officials have long maintained Omar fled to Pakistan after the Taliban government was overthrown in late 2001 by US-backed Afghan forces and is still in hiding there. Islamabad has denied reports he is in Pakistan.

Obama arrives in Britain on Tuesday for a three-day state visit — the first state visit by a US president since 2003.

He will hold talks with British Prime Minister David Cameron and address the parliament to hail the two countries’ special relationship and stress the importance of transatlantic ties.

Al Qaeda leader's last moments now captured in toy bricks

Despite documenting an iconic historial moment, the pictures detailing Osama Bin Laden's death were still subject to days of mocked up internet viral treatment.

But one artist has immortalised the famous Navy Seal raid on Bin Laden's Pakistan compound in unique style - by recreating the pictures in Lego.

Student Alex Eylar mocked up his own version of the Al-Qaeda leader's demise by picturing him as a Lego man sat on a bed about to be gunned down by Lego commando.

Another painstakingly-detailed picture recreates the dramatic moment President Obama and his senior staff watch the Navy Seal raid from the White House Situation Room.

Alex's version shows President Obama - who strangely has a mop of black hair - sat watching the raid with other toy brick White House staff including a Lego Hilary Clinton.

Vice President Joe Biden and other members of the national security team are also shown in Lego form staring at their monitors.

 Recreation: Bin Laden sat watching TV in his Pakistan compound also became a defining image following his death.Tension: The defining image of President Obama watching the raid from the White House Situation Room also got the toy brick treatment.Block and load: Two Lego commandos confront Bin Laden in his compound in artist Alex's recreation

President Obama described the time spent watching Navy Seal Team Six raid on Bin Laden's Abbottabad compound as 'the longest 40 minutes of my life'.

He said: 'We knew as events unfolded what was happening in and around the compound, but we could not get information clearly about what was happening inside the compound.'

'And it was the longest 40 minutes of my life, with the possible exception of when Sasha got meningitis when she was three months old, and I was waiting for the doctor to tell me that she was all right. It was a very tense situation.

A third reconstruction shows the infamous moment Bin Laden was pictured sat in his squalid lair watching television reports about himself.

The 22-year-old's interpretation is much more colourful than the drab living space where Bin Laden was spotted in real life.

But the artist still includes telltale details like the terror chief's brown blanket and spare computer monitor.

The detailed recreation even includes the Al-Qaeda mastermind's bolster pillow, satellite decoder and the remote control which he points at the TV.

Lego expert Alex has previously recreated famous movie scenes using the famous toy blocks, including American Beauty and A Clockwork Orange.

Study ties new al Qaeda chief to murder of journalist Pearl

Saif al-Adel, an Egyptian militant recently appointed interim leader of al Qaeda operations, has been linked to the killing of US journalist Daniel Pearl in Pakistan in 2002, US investigators said in a report.

A Wall Street Journal reporter, Pearl was kidnapped in Pakistan’s biggest city of Karachi in January 2002 while researching a story on Islamist militants, and was later beheaded.

The findings by investigators of the Pearl Project revealed al-Adel had discussed Pearl’s abduction with Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, also known as KSM, the accused mastermind behind the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

“KSM told the FBI that he was pulled into the kidnapping by a high-level leader in al Qaeda circles, an Egyptian named Saif al-Adel, who told him to make the kidnapping an al Qaeda operation,” said the investigators in their report which was published in January.





Journalism academics and students set up the Pearl Project at Georgetown University in the United States to investigate Pearl’s kidnapping and murder.

The linkage of al-Adel to Pearl’s murder shows the long-standing ties between al Qaeda and Pakistan militancy, which flourishes not only in the lawless northwest along the Afghan border but in Karachi and other urban centres.

Pearl fell into al Qaeda’s hands after Pakistani militants, the subject of Pearl’s research, kidnapped him.

Al-Adel learned of Pearl and approached Mohammad to take him off the Pakistani militants’ hands.

“He (al-Adel) thought this was an opportunity,” Mohammad told FBI agents, according to the report’s authors.

“We can take advantage of it. He said he wanted to make sure it’s an al Qaeda thing.”

Mohammad, who was arrested in Pakistan in 2003 and taken to the US prison at Guantanamo Bay, later admitted he beheaded Pearl.

Mohammad told investigators he initially had no idea about the kidnapping and he also said al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was reportedly angry over Pearl’s brutal killing, the report said.

A former chief prosecutor for Guantanamo Bay military commissions told the researchers: “One of the high value detainees told interrogators that Osama bin Laden was angry that KSM had slaughtered Pearl so publicly and brutally, arguing that the murder brought unnecessary attention on the network.”

A British-born Islamist militant, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani court in 2002 for his role in Pearl’s killing. He has appealed his conviction. Three other co-accused who face life sentences, have also appealed.

Al-Adel, the latest militant named in connection with Pearl’s murder, was appointed al Qaeda’s temporary leader following the killing of bin Laden by US special forces in a Pakistani town on May 2.

US prosecutors say al-Adel is one of al Qaeda’s top military commanders and helped plan 1998 bomb attacks on the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. They also say he set up al Qaeda training camps in Sudan and Afghanistan in the 1990s.

Pakistan's nuclear surge exposed

Recent satellite images obtained by Fox News from the aerial imagery company GEOEYE show an expanding nuclear facility at the Khushab facility about 100 miles south of Pakistan's capital city of Islamabad.

Fearing power vacuum, Russia cosies up to Afghanistan

Still haunted by its own disastrous war in Afghanistan, Russia is tiptoeing back into Kabul’s affairs ahead of a gradual withdrawal of Nato troops that could leave a dangerous power vacuum in what was once a traditional sphere of influence.

Moscow has refused to send troops to the war, which is becomingly increasingly unpopular as it drags into its 10th year, but it has backed drug raids, and increased support for Nato and local forces. It has also showed interest in business deals as it vies to boost its clout in Afghanistan.

Russia has welcomed Afghan President Hamid Karzai twice in the past 12 months, where he directly asked his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev for help with security.





Long indirectly involved in Afghan affairs through supporting foreign operations, Russia is now pursuing ‘independent engagement’, said Vanda Felbab-Brown, an expert on Afghanistan and fellow at the Brookings Institution.

‘Russia’s primary objective is to avoid having civil war, instability and leakages into Central Asia and into Russia itself,’ Felbab-Brown told Reuters from Washington.

Moscow has also been courting Pakistan, seen as instrumental to peace plans in Afghanistan, where some 15,000 Soviet soldiers died fighting mujahideen insurgents before pulling out in 1989.

Russia agreed last year to expand on a transit deal to allow Nato to take armoured vehicles through its territory. It had already allowed the military alliance to ship food and fuel.

An agreement to supply the United States with 21 military helicopters is also expected to be completed by year-end.

‘Russia certainly does not want America to remain in the region,’ said Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of the journal Russia in Global Affairs. ‘At the same time, there is also the concern that the US departure, particularly a swift one, will make the situation much more difficult’.

Moscow also hopes to be involved in several economic projects, including a proposed gas pipeline and hydroelectric power facilities in Kabul. Russia has said it would rebuild Soviet-era infrastructure, which it built in the 1950s-1970s, if the international community footed the bill.

Violence, uncertainty

Despite escalating violence, Washington and Nato have pledged to begin a gradual security transition from July as part of a plan that will see all foreign combat troops leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

Experts say the first transition phase — to begin in seven areas — is more about symbolism than substance, but agree the handover is still crucial to determining the readiness of Afghan forces.

Violence last year hit its worst levels since US-backed Afghan forces overthrew the Taliban government in late 2001, but Washington and its allies have backed Karzai’s peace plan, which includes negotiations with Taliban-led insurgents.

However, there is still little idea how that plan will work and the likelihood of more political uncertainty looms.

Still wary of a country at the heart of the ‘Great Game’ — the historic rivalry between Britain and Russia during the 19th and 20th centuries, Moscow is now also driven by its fear of growing Islamism.

Russia is afraid the troop drawdown will allow militants to filter into the oil and gas-producing mainly Muslim countries of ex-Soviet Central Asia.

Last month the head of a Russia-dominated regional security bloc, the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), warned member states that Afghan insurgent activity was already spreading to the bordering Central Asian countries.

‘This is one of the main destabilising factors presenting a real threat to collective security in the Central Asian region,’ the CSTO’s Nikolai Bordyuzha said in Moscow.

Moscow is so alarmed, security sources and analysts say, that it is in talks with Tajikistan — whose southern border with Afghanistan is long and porous — to send up to 3,000 Russian border guards to protect the country from a spillover of violence.

Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan also border Afghanistan.

‘It is possible we could see a resurgence of the Taliban, and the Islamist movements in Central Asia might be emboldened by this,’ said Gemma Ferst from the London-based Eurasia Group.

Twenty years after the fall of the Soviet Union, homegrown Islamist movements now exist in all Central Asian countries, Ferst added, and links to the international radical community have already been established.

Uphill battle

Russia also has worries closer to home.

The Kremlin is waging an uphill battle with Islamist insurgents in its mainly Muslim North Caucasus region, underpinned by Soviet-era deportations and two separatist wars in Chechnya since 1994.

Potential chaos in Afghanistan after foreign troops leave could encourage Russia’s rebels, who are bent on carving out an independent Islamic state and stage near-daily attacks across the North Caucasus.

Escalating their campaign, they also said they carried out the suicide bombings that killed a total of 77 people in Moscow’s busiest airport in January and on the Moscow metro last year.

‘There are fears that (violence) might reverberate into the North Caucasus, and how moral encouragement from Afghanistan could fuel salafism and separatism there,’ said Felbab-Brown, referring to the ultra-conservative branch of Islam that the Caucasus rebels follow.

Afghan militants have openly supported the North Caucasus in the past: the Taliban government recognised Chechnya as independent in 2000 and even set up an embassy in Kabul.

Russia’s crippling drugs crisis and a looming HIV/AIDS epidemic have also reignited Moscow’s interest in Afghan intervention. A quarter of all Afghan heroin reaches Russia through Central Asia, making it the largest per capita user in the world with up to 3 million addicts.

Though Russia has vowed repeats of a joint raid with the US last year, in which they destroyed four drug labs and a tonne of heroin near the Afghan border with Pakistan, it also disagrees with its Cold War foe over local drug output.

‘The drug trade feeds into militant activity, which poses a risk for Central Asia, and this is of course something that motivates us,’ said anti-drugs tsar Viktor Ivanov, referring to Russia’s desire to destroy poppy crops.

The United States has said eradicating poppy plantations would push disgruntled Afghan farmers into insurgents’ hands.

Tensions increase in Pakistan after Nato helicopter injures two soldiers in attack on Afghan border

A Nato helicopter attacked a Pakistani army post near the Afghan border today, injuring two Pakistani soldiers in an incident that could further increase tensions following the U.S. raid that killed Osama Bin Laden, Pakistani intelligence officials said.

Nato confirmed there were helicopters flying near the Pakistani border and was investigating the reported attack.

‘There were helicopters operating in the border region, and we are aware there has been an incident,’ said Nato coalition spokesman Lt. Col. John Dorrian. ‘But we are going to have to assess the situation.’

Catch it if you can: A U.S Marine Cobra attack helicopter fires diversionary flares as it flies near Forward Operating Base Edi in the volatile Helmand Province

Fearsome: Cobra attack helicopters, like this one pictured in southern Afghanistan, are regularly used to battle the Taliban

He declined to give further details or say which Nato country was involved.

Most of the helicopters that fly in that part of Afghanistan are American.

Nato helicopters that fly in the area are outfitted with equipment that monitors whether they cross over the Pakistani border, said a Nato official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. Authorities are now reviewing that equipment, said the official.

The attack took place this morning in the Datta Khel area of the North Waziristan tribal region, said the Pakistani intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Pakistani troops responded with machine gun fire and deployed two helicopter gunships over the post, but the Nato helicopter had already left, they said.

It is unclear how Pakistan will respond if the Nato helicopter attack is confirmed.

Last September, a U.S. helicopter attack killed two Pakistani soldiers at an outpost near the Afghan border, prompting Pakistan to close a key border crossing for 11 days that Nato uses to ship goods into landlocked Afghanistan. The U.S. apologised, saying the pilots mistook the soldiers for insurgents being pursued across the border from Afghanistan.

Relations are even more tense now following the Navy Seal raid on May 2 that killed Bin Laden in Abbottabad, an army town only about 35 miles (55 kilometres) outside the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.

The Pakistani government is outraged that the U.S. carried out the operation without telling them first, and many U.S. officials have expressed disbelief that Bin Laden could have lived in Abbottabad for at least five years without Pakistan knowing. However, the U.S. has also said it has not found any evidence yet that Pakistani leaders knew of Bin Laden's whereabouts.

The helicopter attack comes a day after U.S. Senator John Kerry wrapped up a 24-hour visit to Islamabad in which he worked to salvage the relationship with Pakistan, but also warned the government that ‘actions not words’ were needed to get ties back on track. Kerry was the most high-profile American to visit Pakistan since the raid that killed Bin Laden.

Kerry said Pakistan had agreed to immediately take several ‘specific steps’ to improve ties, but did not say what they were.

The only tangible signs of progress were a remark by Kerry that Pakistan had agreed to give America the tail of a classified stealth helicopter destroyed by U.S. commandos when it malfunctioned during the raid and an announcement that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would soon announce a trip to the country.

But there have also been signs of Pakistan's anger.

The Pakistani government sent the U.S. a written request following the Bin Laden raid asking Washington to reduce the number of American military personnel in the country, said a U.S. military official.

There are currently more than 200 U.S. military personnel in Pakistan, some of whom are tasked with training Pakistani troops, said the official. Pakistan has asked the U.S. to reduce the number of trainers in the country, but the official would not specify the numbers involved.

Diplomatic mission: U.S Senator John Kerry (left) shakes hands with Pakisan's Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani