AL-QAEDA yesterday confirmed the death of its founder and leader, Osama bin Laden, in an 11-paragraph statement posted on militant websites where the group has traditionally put out its messages.
The group promised that the man they called “the holy warrior Sheikh Osama bin Laden” would soon speak from beyond the grave, in the form of an audio message recorded a week before his death.
“The general leadership” also called on the people of Pakistan to revolt against their leaders “to cleanse the shame” of bin Laden’s death on the night of May 1st-2nd, and threatened the US with retaliation.
Bin Laden’s blood “will not go in vain”, the statement said. “We will remain, God willing, a curse chasing the Americans and their agents, following them outside and inside their countries. Soon, God willing, their happiness will turn to sadness. Their blood will be mingled with their tears.”
In the months preceding bin Laden’s killing, the CIA operated from a house in Abbottabad, the garrison town north of Islamabad where bin Laden was killed, the New York Times and Washington Post reported yesterday .
From behind mirror glass windows, CIA agents used telephoto lenses and infrared imaging equipment to watch the inhabitants of the compound. They dubbed a tall man who frequently walked in the courtyard “the pacer”, though they were not able to confirm he was bin Laden.
The CIA team tried to record conversations inside the house and intercept cell phone calls with eavesdropping equipment. The Americans used radar to sweep the surrounding area for escape tunnels.
The safe house did not play a role on the night of the raid, but has been shut down since, out of concern for its inhabitants’ safety, and because it was no longer needed, the Washington Post reported.
Details of the raid are still emerging. The Post said that on the night of the raid, US forces saw bin Laden from below, standing in the doorway of his third-floor room. He turned and retreated into the room, where he was shot in the head and chest.
Three of bin Laden’s wives (a fourth divorced him) and several of his children were among some 15 people detained by Pakistani authorities after the raid. The youngest wife, Amal Ahmed Abdulfattah, who was shot in the leg, told Pakistani interrogators the family had lived in the compound for more than five years. She almost never left the upper floor of the villa.
A senior Pakistani officer told journalists that Pakistani intelligence has determined bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri – the man most likely to succeed the slain leader – fell out over money six years ago.
Prior to his death, bin Laden was believed to have withdrawn from active leadership of the group, in particular the planning of attacks.
But computers and flash drives seized by US commandos show that bin Laden remained in contact with his network.
US investigators have made searching the seized data a top priority, in the hope of thwarting possible revenge attacks.
In handwritten notes in Arabic dating from early 2010, they found information on how to derail trains by moving track on railway bridges.
US officials said there was no evidence of a specific plot, but that Christmas, New Year’s Day, the State of the Union address and the 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks were revenge possibilities.
After fleeing the mountains of Tora Bora in 2001, bin Laden released up to a half-dozen audio messages each year, taking care to mention current events.
Experts said that if he could get these messages out, he would also have been able to communicate with his men.