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NEW YORK - A series of emails between American diplomats in Pakistan and Washington over drone strikes are the focus of the criminal probe involving presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's handling of classified information, according to a report Thursday by The Wall Street Journal.

The emails in 2011 and 2012 were sent through a "computer system for unclassified matters" that gave the State Department input into whether a Central Intelligence Agency drone strike went forward, congressional and law enforcement officials briefed on the FBI probe told the Journal.

Some of those emails were then sent by then-Secretary of State Clinton's aides to her personal email account and private server, officials told the Journal.

The vaguely worded messages, however, didn’t mention the “CIA,” “drones” or details about the targets, the Journal reported.

The emails were written within the often-narrow timeframe in which State Department officials had to decide whether or not to object to drone strikes before the CIA pulled the trigger, officials told the newspaper. The still-secret emails are a part of the ongoing FBI investigation.

In January, the intelligence community deemed some of Clinton’s emails “too damaging" to national security to release under any circumstances, a US government official close to the ongoing review said. A second source, who was not authorised to speak on the record, backed up the finding.

Law-enforcement and intelligence officials told the Wall Street Journal that State Department deliberations about the covert CIA drone programme should have been conducted over a more secure government computer system designed to handle classified information.

State Department officials reportedly told FBI investigators they used the less-secure system occasionally when decisions about imminent strikes had to be made quickly, and the US diplomats didn’t have access to the more-secure system, when they were away from the offices.

The CIA drone campaign has otherwise been conducted under strict classification rules, with US officials barred from discussing strikes publicly.

Clinton clinched the Demnocratic nomination this week. Polls have shown voters doubt Clinton’s integrity, while Republican Donald Trump has taken to calling her “Crooked Hillary”, saying he doubts a Democratic-led Justice Department will indict her.

The newspaper reported that several law-enforcement officials said they don’t expect any criminal charges to be filed against her, though the FBI is expected to interview her this summer.

Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon told the Wall Street Journal: “If these officials’ descriptions are true, these emails were originated by career diplomats, and the sending of these types of emails was widespread within the government.”

The newspaper said there is no evidence the emails were intercepted by Pakistani intelligence officials. The drone strikes on terrorist targets in the tribal areas neighbouring Afghanistan that have long been used as a Taliban refuge are highly controversial in Pakistan, though they have been seen as effective by the Obama administration, which dramatically increased the use of drone strikes.