The CIA has created a new super secret paramilitary unit to target people they believe to be terrorists and their leaders abroad.
The CIA already has several paramilitary units that conduct covert operations, according to an official. But the new team will operate directly under the command of the agency's counter terrorism center, the brain trust of the US-led war on terror that seeks to eradicate terrorist cells around the world.
"It will really be a more counter terrorist paramilitary force that will focus on terrorists," the official said.
The number of people in the team, its weaponry and the location of its home base remain highly classified.
The move comes as US and allied forces are stepping up operations along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan to hunt down remnants of the deposed Taliban regime and al-Qaeda network.
President George W Bush has repeatedly stated he wants al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden "dead or alive". But so far, the Saudi-born al-Qaeda financier has eluded not only capture but even sightings.
"He is believed to be alive and hiding somewhere in the region along the Afghan-Pakistani border," an official has said.
But the official declined to comment on whether the new team of highly-trained and experienced CIA commandos was be to thrown into action, if US intelligence got "actionable" information about the whereabouts of bin Laden or his closest associates.
AFP