• 11:31
  • Thursday ,05 May 2011
العربية

Pakistan dismisses US raid fears

By-CNN

International News

00:05

Thursday ,05 May 2011

Pakistan dismisses US raid fears

Pakistan has hit back at US claims that it could not be trusted with details of the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden.

Pakistani Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir told the BBC this view was "disquieting" and his country had a "pivotal role" in tackling terrorism.
Earlier, the CIA chief said the US had not told Islamabad in advance about the raid for fear it would be jeopardised.
The US also revised its account of how it took place, saying Bin Laden was not armed when his compound was stormed.
"There was concern that Bin Laden would oppose the capture operation and, indeed, he resisted," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters on Tuesday.
The al-Qaeda leader was shot dead by US special forces in Abbottabad on Sunday. US officials have said they are considering when to make public their photographs of his corpse.
CIA Director Leon Panetta told Time Magazine that Islamabad had not been informed because "the Pakistanis could jeopardise the mission: they might alert the targets".
In a BBC interview, Mr Bashir said Mr Panetta was entitled to his views but that his country had co-operated extensively with the US.
He said the compound in Abbottabad where Bin Laden was shot dead had been identified as suspicious some time ago by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
But it took the greater resources of the CIA to determine that it was the al-Qaeda leader's hiding place.
"Most of these things that have happened in terms of global anti-terror, Pakistan has played a pivotal role," said Mr Bashir.
"So it's a little disquieting when we have comments like this."