NEW YORK: US intelligence agency CIA hired contractors from a private security firm for the job of loading bombs and missiles on drones to hit al-Qaida targets in Pakistan and Afghanistan, a work previously done by the agency's workers, a media report said today.

The job was assigned to Blackwater, now known as Xe Services, the company whose operations in Iraq had come under intense scrutiny. It was earlier hired by CIA for its secret (now abandoned) programme to eliminate top al-Qaida leaders.

Contractors of Xe Services assemble and load Hellfire missiles and 500-pound laser-guided bombs on remotely piloted Predator aircraft at hidden bases in Pakistan and Afghanistan, a work which was previously performed by CIA employees, a US news paper said quoting officials.

"They also provide security at the covert bases," it said, adding that the role of the private firm in the Predator programme highlights the extent to which the CIA depends on "outsiders" for some of its most important functions.

According to the report, the CIA has now opened a second drone base in Jalalabad in Afghanistan. link