Al-Qaeda infiltrating Syria, US intelligence official says

Feb 16, 2012, 23:18 GMT

Washington - Members of the terrorist group al-Qaeda have been infiltrating the Syrian opposition, a top US intelligence official told Congress Thursday.

'Another disturbing phenomenon that we've seen recently, apparently, is the presence of extremists who have infiltrated the opposition groups,' Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said. 'The opposition groups in many cases may not be aware that they're there.'

Clapper, the top US intelligence official, told the Senate Armed Service Committee that a series of bombings in Syria against security and intelligence interests 'had all the earmarks of an al-Qaeda-like attack.'

'So we believe that al-Qaeda in Iraq is extending its reach into Syria,' he said.

Previous US assessments have said the attacks were similar to those conducted by the terrorist group, but had not gone so far in making a direct connection.

Lieutenant General Ronald Burgess, director of the Defence Intelligence Agency, told the hearing however that the involvement appeared to be coming from operatives already inside the country and not from outsiders coming in.

'We haven't seen so far and what we have not assessed yet is whether there would be what I would call a clarion call to outsiders coming in to augment,' he said. 'We haven't seen much of that up to this time.'

Read more about US