The US Special Forces killed Osama bin Laden leader of al Qaeda in a midnight covert operation carried out in the garrison town, Abbottabad 60-km off Islamabad. Osama was accused of masterminding the 9/11 attack and carried a head money of $50 million. The covert military operation carried out by the US Special forces apparently without the involvement of Pakistan army raised many questions.
The ISPR remained tight-lipped on the subject and no statement was issued regarding the operation and intelligence sharing pertaining to Osama's death in Pakistan. At the end of the 40-minute operation, US President Barack Obama himself announced the death of Osama. Prior to the operation, he said, he had talked to President Asif Ali Zardari. American President said, "it is important to note that our counter-terrorism co-operation with Pakistan helped us to target the compound where bin Laden was hiding".
According to sources, following the intelligence reports, two Apache helicopters flew from Bagram, a major US army airbase in Afghanistan, crossed the Pak-Afghan border and entered into Pakistani territory to carry out the operation against bin Laden.
According to an eyewitness account, at 12.30 am Saturday night, two helicopters were seen hovering over a three-storied building in Bilal Town adjacent to the prestigious Army training centre 'Military Academy Kakul', Abbottabad. "The sound of gunfire and the use of light and heavy weapons was heard with thunder-lightening", one of the witnesses informed Business Recorder. The duration of the operation was brief.
Later, witnesses saw the debris of a helicopter which crash-landed there. The second helicopter left with the dead bodies. The Pak army and law enforcement forces cordoned off the area. Sources said that bin Laden had been living in the building with his German wife, children and two brothers. However, the exact death toll could not be confirmed.
In another development, the National Identity Card of the owner of the fortified house where Osama bin Laden was hiding, was found to be bogus, official sources said on Monday. The fortified house, spread over six kanals of land and situated in Bilal Town, one of the posh areas of Abbottabad, was the property of Muhammad Arshad son of Muhammad Naqeeb, resident of Tangi Phass area of Charsadda, a nearby town of Peshawar, these sources said adding that when the Identity Card of Arshad was checked with the national database of Nadra, there was no record of this CNIC and it was found to be a bogus identity card.
They said that Arshad, who is being described as an Afghan national, had purchased this property on this bogus card. The security agencies have started investigation to trace the owners of the property. When contacted, Nadra sources in Abbottabad revealed that the Identity Card was made manually and was found to be bogus as there was no record in Nadra database.
Tariq Malik, Deputy Chairman of the Nadra, when contacted to know about details of the owners of the house, declined to comment on the issue saying that it was yet to be ascertained whether the card was bogus or not. The residents of Tangi Phass area of Charsadda also confirmed that there is no such man with the name of Muhammad Arshad residing in this small village, security sources told Business Recorder adding that efforts were being made to trace the two brothers who own this property.
Till late, Pak army did not confirm the incident or release any detail of the covert operation by the US's Special Forces. However, a TV channel claimed that Director General ISI, Shuja Pasha had confirmed the operation and death of bin Laden.
Former President General Pervez Musharraf while talking to a foreign TV channel said the death of Osama did not mean an end to war against terror. He said the war against terror would continue and combat forces of Pakistan were ready to eliminate terrorists from their soil.
Former DG ISI, Hameed Gul said it was not over as al Qaeda's second-in- command was still alive and another force Tahreek-e-Taliban Pakistan was still operative in Pakistan. It has been reported that Tahrik-e-Taliban Pakistan denied the death of Osama and threatened to attack Pakistan and the United States, calling them the enemies of Islam.