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Pakistan denies al Qaeda resurgence report

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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Pakistan has denied published reports that indicated al Qaeda is active and getting stronger in its tribal North Waziristan region along the country's border with Afghanistan.

Pakistani Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durani told CNN the reports -- initially from the New York Times -- are "ridiculous."

"We have deployed more than 80,000 troops in that area, and we are controlling that belt," Durani said. "And whenever we get any Taliban or al Qaeda activity report, we always go in with full force and destroy those camps. We ourselves are victims of these terrorist activities and cannot allow them to get stronger."

Durani also said that it is "ridiculous to point fingers without any reason."

"If someone has any information, they should have passed that on to us," he said.

Quoting unnamed American officials, the Times article -- published Monday morning -- said, "There was mounting evidence that Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, had been steadily building an operations hub in the mountainous Pakistani tribal area of North Waziristan."

It added, "The United States has also identified several new al Qaeda compounds in North Waziristan, including one that officials said might be training operatives for strikes against targets beyond Afghanistan."

Pakistan's ambassador to the United States, Mahmud Durrani, said on CNN's "The Situation Room" that the reports were "not true."

"There may be some elements of al Qaeda," he said, "but not in the force that has been presented."

Durrani also said it is "totally and utterly incorrect" that elements of the Pakistani military are sympathetic to al Qaeda. He also denied that bin Laden and others are hiding in Pakistan.

Terrorism analyst Peter Bergen told CNN that it is the U.S. military position that al Qaeda forces are, in fact, operating out of Pakistan, where they have built new training camps.

"They're not large," he said. "We're talking about 10 or 20 people" in each camp.

U.S. officials believe al Qaeda and Taliban fighters train in these camps for targeted attacks in Afghanistan, Bergen said.

CNN's Syed Mohsin Naqvi contributed to this report.

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