CIA’s country head leaves Pakistan

ISLAMABAD - The country head of American CIA in Pakistan, Jonathan Banks, is believed to have left the country after receiving security threats, Samaa TV reported Saturday.

“Banks was facing a legal battle in Pakistan and had also received threats from militants which prompted the authorities in Washington to order his immediate return”, the channel said.

A resident of North Waziristan, Karim Khan, has filed a petition in a local court against US drone attacks alleging that one such attack killed his son and brother last year.

CIA chief Leon Panetta, country head Jonathan Banks and US defence secretary Robert Gates have been made party amongst others in the petition that has demanded compensation worth Rs. 500 million. Karim’s lawyer said that Banks should not have been allowed to leave the country because there is a case pending against him here.

The spokesman of the US embassy in Islamabad said “they had no knowledge of any such development”.

Banks is reported to have left Pakistan for Washington Friday, but no replacement has yet been named.

The principal officer of the US consulate in Peshawar, Elizabeth Rudd, had also left the country last week after receiving security threats from Taliban militants.