The Pentagon was given secret authority by President Bush to carry out about 12 controversial attacks against al-Qaeda and other militants in Syria, Pakistan and elsewhere since 2004, it has been reported.

Quoting what it said were more than six unnamed military and intelligence officials and senior Bush administration policy makers, The New York Times said the military operations were authorised by a classified order signed by Donald Rumsfeld, former Defence Secretary, with the approval of the President.

Under the order, the military had new authority to strike the al-Qaeda network anywhere in the world and a broader mandate to conduct operations in countries not at war with the United States, according to the newspaper. Despite the order, each mission required high-level government approval.

The order identified 15 to 20 countries, including Syria, Pakistan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf states, where al-Qaeda militants were believed to be operating or to have sought sanctuary, a senior administration official told the newspaper.

A former top CIA official was quoted as saying that one of the operations included the raid of a suspected militant compound in the Bajuar region of Pakistan. The New York Times said its sources refused to provide details about the other previously undisclosed attacks, except to say they had been carried out in Syria, Pakistan and other countries.

The newspaper said officials made clear there had been no raids into Iran using that authority, but they suggested that American forces had carried out reconnaissance missions in Iran using other classified directives.

Senior military officials told the paper as many as a dozen additional missions were scrapped because senior administration officials decided they were too dangerous, diplomatically problematic or relied on insufficient evidence.

When contacted by The New York Times, spokesmen for the White House, the Defence Department and the military declined comment.

Raids targeting militants in countries friendly to the United States - particularly in Pakistan - have caused huge controversy in recent weeks, with the Pakistani government saying that it was capable of battling extremists within its own territory.

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