DHAKA: According to top-secret US intelligence documents, Al-Qaeda has hired specialists to find ways of effective fighting against US drones, which has inflicted huge losses upon the terrorist network by killing an estimated 3,000 people over the past decade.

During the past decade, drones have become the main instrument of the US counterterrorism strategy, enabling the CIA and the military to trace enemies in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia and other places.

Details of al-Qaeda’s anti-drone campaign are contained in a top-secret intelligence report titled ‘Threats to Unmanned Aerial Vehicles’ provided to The Washington Post by Edward Snowden, the former NSA and CIA contractor.

The report is a summary of dozens of assessments posted by US spy agencies since 2006.

However, The Post is withholding some details exposing specific weaknesses of certain aircraft, says The Voice of Russia.

According to the top-secret report disclosed by Snowden, al-Qaeda is trying to exploit technological vulnerabilities of unmanned aircraft.

US aviation experts acknowledge that drones have a weak spot: the satellite links and remote controls that enable pilots to operate them from thousands of miles away.

The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) reported that al-Qaeda was sponsoring different research projects looking for ways to shoot down, jam or remotely hijack US drones.

BDST: 1423 HRS, SEPT 04, 2013
RoR/BSK