The US drone planes that launch missile strikes against militants are based in Pakistan, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee says.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said that the unmanned US air force drones operating in Pakistan are flown from an air base inside the country, a Press TV correspondent reported.
"As I understand it, these are flown out of a Pakistani base," she said at a hearing for Dennis Blair, the new director of national intelligence on Friday.
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) declined to comment, but former US intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information, confirmed that Feinstein's account was accurate.
Philip J. LaVelle, a spokesperson for Feinstein, said her comment was based solely on previous news reports that predators were operated from bases near Islamabad.
Pakistan has denied reports that Islamabad has clinched a secret deal with Washington allowing drone attacks inside the country's tribal zones.
Islamabad has always demanded Washington to halt drone attacks on Pakistan's tribal belt near the Afghan border.
Pakistani Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani has recently told Richard Holbrooke, the special US envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, during his visit to Islamabad that the US incursions inside Pakistani territories have fueled anti-American feelings across the country.
The premier noted that the deadly attacks were severely undermining public support for counter-terrorism measures.
Over 500 people, mostly civilians, are killed in such attacks, which started under the Bush administration.
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