Panetta says al Qaeda "doesn't have ability" to conduct another 9/11 type terror attack

Islamabad, Jan 22 (ANI): US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has said the al Qaeda "doesn't have the ability" anymore to carry out another 9/11 type terror attack.

"It doesn't have the ability to put command and control together to make the kind of plans for the kind of attacks we saw on 9/11," the Daily Times quoted Panetta, as saying.

"Al Qaeda, the enemy that attacked this country on 9/11, that made the war on terrorism something that all of us were committed to fight - we have significantly impacted on Al Qaeda. Its leadership is decimated," he added.

Former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and some other top commanders might have faced their fate, but Panetta stressed that the pressure needed to be continued.

"We need to keep going after them wherever they go, whether it's Yemen or Somalia or North Africa."

"We need to continue the pressure on them. But we are... we are working to significantly weaken their capability. We've been good at it," he added. (ANI)