Official: Pakistan arrested informants who led the CIA to bin Laden

The five CIA informants were reported to have copied license plates of cars visiting bin Laden's compound before the May raid.

Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- Pakistan's intelligence agency arrested "a few" informants who gave information to the CIA before the raid that left Osama bin Laden dead, Pakistani intelligence officials said Wednesday.

The arrests were addressed during the Friday meeting between CIA Director Leon Panetta, Pakistan army chief Gen. Ashfaq Kayani and Lt. Gen. Ahmad Shuja Pasha, Pakistan's head of military intelligence.

The official, who asked to remain anonymous because he is not authorized to speak to the media, said he did not know the exact number of informants arrested or what date it happened.

The arrests could point to another blow to the relationship between the U.S. and Pakistan.

The relationship between the two countries has been in a downward spiral over disputes about how to pursue counterterrorism efforts. The United States believes Pakistan is not doing enough to go after al Qaeda and other extremists, while the Pakistanis are upset with what they consider to be unilateral steps taken by the United States within their borders.

"There were a number of people arrested in Abbottabad after the raid on the Osama bin Laden compound," said Syed Azmat Ali, a Pakistani military spokesman.

The suspects were "picked up from the compound where bin Laden was found and a house in Abbottabad that was used to monitor the bin Laden compound activities," Ali said.

Asked Wednesday to rate the Pakistani spy agency's relationship with the CIA from a scale of one to 10, the spokesman said four.

Panetta was in Pakistan last week in an effort to repair damaged relations.

The CIA chief's unannounced visit was the latest in a series by U.S. officials -- among them, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen and Sen. John Kerry -- in efforts to smooth things over after the terror leader was killed in a Navy SEALs raid.

[Source : edition.cnn]