US firm 'runs covert Pakistan ops'

A new report has accused the US private security firm formerly known as Blackwater of operating a covert assassination and kidnapping program against suspected Taliban and al-Qaida members in northwest Pakistan. In an article published on Monday, The Nation magazine alleged that the firm, now known as Xe, is also involved in running a US military drone bombing campaign out of Pakistan. Jeremy Scahill, the investigative journalist who broke the story, told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that the program was so secretive that senior officials in the administration of Barack Obama, the US president, were likely unaware of it. "What I learned is that for years there has been a covert operation of the US military inside Pakistan's borders ... and that Blackwater operatives are at the center of not only the drone bombing campaign but also planning snatch-and-grab operations of high value targets." Scahill, citing military intelligence sources and a former Blackwater official, said the program began with an agreement between the US and Pakistani governments.