• 04:54
  • Tuesday ,10 May 2011
العربية

Child recalls bin Laden's compound; Pakistan to discuss U.S. raid

By-CNN

International News

00:05

Tuesday ,10 May 2011

Child recalls bin Laden's compound; Pakistan to discuss U.S. raid

Abbottabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- Children in the Abbottabad neighborhood where Osama bin Laden lived said they noticed oddities at bin Laden's massive compound but were oblivious that the world's most wanted terror leader was hiding in the quiet city.

Twelve-year-old Zarar Amjed Turk is one of the children who played with the eight or nine kids from bin Laden's house -- some of whom may have been the al Qaeda leader's grandchildren.
 
"I don't know why they had security cameras installed outside the house," Zarar said. "We used to knock the door for 10 or 20 minutes then someone used to come to talk. That was strange for us."
 
He said he didn't know the names of the kids he played with.
 
"We used to play cricket next to their house. Whenever our cricket ball went into the compound, we knocked on the door and asked for the ball. But the guy always said our ball was lost, and gave us 50 rupees (59 cents) and asked us to buy a new one."
 
Zarar had never heard the name Osama bin Laden before the terror leader's death last week.
 
But about 50 kilometers (31 miles) south, in the capital city of Islamabad, bin Laden -- and the secret U.S. operation that killed him -- has dominated talks among Pakistani leaders.
 
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is expected to deliver a new terrorism-related policy statement Monday as the Pakistani Parliament opens a debate on the U.S. raid.
 
According to a government statement, Gilani "looks forward to a full debate on the matter on the floor of the House."
 
Gilani met Saturday with the country's president, defense minister, foreign affairs minister and chief of army staff about the operation in Abbottabad, the statement said.
 
The talks come amid heightened tensions in the U.S.-Pakistan relationship.
 
U.S. President Barack Obama said he thinks bin Laden likely had a group of supporters within Pakistan helping to keep the al Qaeda leader secure for years, despite an U.S.-led international manhunt that extended for nearly a decade with Islamabad's ostensible support.
 
In an interview with CBS' "60 Minutes" that aired Sunday night, Obama said, "We think that there had to be some sort of support network for bin Laden inside of Pakistan. But we don't know who or what that support network was."
 
The president said U.S. officials "don't know whether there might have been some people inside of government (or) people outside of government, and that's something that we have to investigate."
 
"More importantly," he added, "the Pakistani government has to investigate."
 
In the "60 Minutes" interview, Obama said sending U.S. troops on a dangerous mission to get bin Laden was worth the risks, even though it was not certain bin Laden was in the compound.
 
"Obviously, we're going into the sovereign territory of another country and landing helicopters and conducting a military operation," he said. "And so, if it turns out that it's a wealthy, you know, prince from Dubai who's in this compound and, you know, we've sent special forces in, we've got problems."
 
Top U.S. officials insist Pakistan remains a critical U.S. ally in the fight against terrorism, but are demanding answers to troubling questions about bin Laden's presence in that country over the past six years.
 
Last week, CIA Director Leon Panetta -- nominated by Obama to succeed Robert Gates as defense secretary -- told House members during a closed-door briefing that Pakistan was "either involved or incompetent," according to two sources in attendance.
 
Pakistani leaders insist they didn't take part in either the establishment or the maintenance of bin Laden's safe haven, and have promised a full examination of the circumstances that allowed him to spend years in Abbottabad, a city with a heavy military presence.
 
Pakistani armed forces chiefs issued a statement last week admitting "shortcomings in developing intelligence" on the terrorist leader's presence in the country.
 
Obama's national security adviser, Tom Donilon, said he has not seen any information to indicate Pakistani officials knew bin Laden was living in Abbottabad.
 
But if evidence is discovered that is "highly disturbing, we'll certainly press that," he said.
 
Four years ago, U.S. officials uncovered the identity of a trusted bin Laden courier -- later identified as a Kuwaiti named Abu Ahmad -- whom they believed was living with and protecting the al Qaeda leader.
 
The courier and his brother were among those killed in the raid.
 
The U.S. operation also collected a trove material from the compound -- including 10 hard drives, five computers and more than 100 storage devices, such as disks and thumb drives, a senior U.S. official told CNN.
 
Investigators are poring over the items for intelligence. In recent days, the materials taken from bin Laden's compound revealed details about a possible attack on the 10th anniversary of 9/11.
 
The material suggests that al Qaeda was particularly interested in striking Washington, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
 
U.S. authorities have found that al Qaeda appeared especially interested in striking on significant dates like July 4, Christmas and the opening day of the United Nations.
 
As early as February 2010, al Qaeda members discussed a plan to derail trains in the United States by placing obstructions on tracks over bridges and valleys, an alert said, according to one law enforcement official.
 
Dozens of people in Abbottabad have been arrested because of their suspected connections to the compound where bin Laden was shot and killed, a Pakistani intelligence official said last week.
 
Investigators want to know whether any of the people are al Qaeda members or sympathizers.a