U.S. Report: NSA Working With CIA On Drone Strikes

A U.S. Air Force MQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicle (file photo)

A report says the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) has been helping the CIA track down Al-Qaeda militants, who are then targeted by drone strikes.

Citing documents leaked by former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, "The Washington Post" said the drone campaign had relied heavily on e-mail and telephone data collected by the NSA.

The report cited the case of a senior Al-Qaeda figure, Hassan Ghul, who it said was killed in a drone strike in Pakistan in October 2012.

Washington has never publicly acknowledged killing Ghul.

The report said the operation was made possible, in part, by an e-mail from Ghul's wife that was captured by the NSA's surveillance programs.

The report said the NSA placed a "surveillance blanket" over northwest Pakistan to detect militant communications.

Based on reporting by AFP and AP