Geelani calls for funeral prayers for Osama
Geelani calls for funeral prayers for Osama
Pakistan: US drone 'kills eight' in North Waziristan
Suicide bomber rams Iraq police station, kills 20
Zawahiri betrayed Osama: Saudi paper
Pakistan warns US, India on raids, denies ISI-Qaeda links
US, Pakistan threaten each other with military action
Pak warns India: Don't even think of US-like strike
Assad deploys Syrian troops before Friday prayers
Mubarak’s feared interior minister Al-Adly thrown in jail for 12 years
US drone strike in Yemen kills Al-Qaeda duo
Legislation introduced in US to freeze financial aid to Pak
'Pak refused to help apprehend Osama before 9/11'
Pak Govt. ‘high levels’ knew whereabouts of Bin Laden: Carl Levin
US needs Pak assistance to pursue extremists: Kerry
Calls for Kadhafi departure 'immoral': Libya govt
Washington seeks to free up Qaddafi’s frozen assets for fighters
Hillary warns Qadhafi
Mubarak sons questioned today
Bin Laden’s death: US authorities try to allay Muslims’ fear
Shame and anger in Pakistan over bin Laden raid
No parallel between 9/11 and 26/11: US
China for global support to Pakistan
Al-Qaida plotted 9/11 anniversary rail attack: US
Osama death: Afghanistan 'had Abbottabad lead four years ago'
Afghan Taleban likely to rethink ties to Al-Qaeda
EU stands by Pakistan despite Osama bin Laden doubts
Osama not a martyr, but a mass killer of Muslims: Clinton
Obama defends bin Laden sea burial as "respectful"
Islamabad says it will protect sovereignty
Did ISI protect Qaeda leader?
Another violation by the U.S. will lead to review of ties, says Pakistan
UN commission asks US for facts on Osama killing
Kasab wanted to know how Osama bin Laden was killed
Australia urges Pakistan to do more in terror fight
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/geelani-calls-funeral-prayers-osama/d/4591
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Geelani calls for funeral prayers for Osama
May 6, 2011
Hardline Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani has asked people to hold funeral prayers tomorrow for Osama bin Laden, the founder of al-Qaeda who was shot dead in Pakistan on May 2 by a US Navy team.
Geelani has appealed to Imams and people to hold funeral prayers in absentia for bin Laden after Friday prayers tomorrow afternoon, a Hurriyat spokesman said in a statement.
Terming him a 'martyr', Geelani said bin Laden was not just one person but "he represented a thinking which opposed foreign occupational forces".
"His heart bore the pain of the entire Muslim Ummah (community). He gave up his life of comfort to fight for their cause," the statement said.
The separatist leader said he wanted to participate in the funeral prayers but he has been placed under house arrest by the police since early this morning.
Geelani appealed to people to pray for the liberation of Kashmir, Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan from the occupation of forces.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/336550/Geelani-calls-for-funeral-prayers-for-Osama.html
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Pakistan: US drone 'kills eight' in North Waziristan
May 6, 2011
At least eight people have been killed in a US drone strike in the troubled Pakistani tribal region of North Waziristan, officials have said.
It is the first such attack since US commandos killed al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in a fortified compound in the north-western town of Abbottabad.
The raid on Monday heightened tensions between Islamabad and Washington.
Rallies are expected in some Pakistani cities against what has been seen as US infringement of Pakistan's sovereignty.
Correspondents say that many are also critical of the Pakistani government for allowing the raid to take place. Pakistani officials insist they were not told about it in advance.
Al-Qaeda haven
The US does not routinely confirm it conducts drone operations in Pakistan.
But analysts say only US forces have the capacity to deploy such aircraft. US drone attacks have escalated in the region since President Barack Obama took office. More than 100 raids were reported last year.
The tribal areas along the Afghan border are considered to be a haven for al-Qaeda and Taliban militants.
Many militants, some of them senior, have been killed in the drone raids, but hundreds of civilians have also died.
Correspondents say that in the past they have had the tacit approval of the Pakistani authorities, although Pakistani leaders always denied secretly supporting them.
In recent months senior Pakistani security officials have reportedly been pressing for a limit to such operations.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13307509
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Suicide bomber rams Iraq police station, kills 20
May 6, 2011
BAGHDAD: A suicide bomber driving an explosives-packed vehicle rammed his way into a barricaded police compound Thursday and killed 20 police officers in the second major deadly blast in Iraq this week.
Iraqi officials have been scrambling to show they’re in control of security in the wake of Osama Bin Laden’s death on Monday, but the uptick of bombings suggests that Al-Qaeda-linked groups in Iraq remain a threat despite the death of their ideological patron.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for this bombing or for another on Tuesday that killed nine people in a Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad. But the types of targets — Iraqi security forces and Shiite Muslims — indicate Al-Qaeda in Iraq’s involvement.
“The attack bears the hallmark of Al-Qaeda which is renewing its efforts to destabilize the country,” said a member of the region’s provincial council, Hamid Al-Milli.
The blast in the mainly Shiite city of Hillah, about 95 km south of the capital Baghdad also underscores Iraq’s fragile security at a time when US forces are preparing to leave the country.
Violence in Iraq has dropped dramatically since just a few years ago, and Iraqi forces have firmly taken over security responsibilities from American troops. But many Iraqis and US officials worry question whether the departure of the roughly 46,000 American soldiers still here will leave their country more vulnerable to violence.
Al-Milli said 20 policemen were killed and 40 more were wounded in the Hillah bombing. He said the car was believed to have been loaded with about 150 kg of explosives. The attacker sped toward the police building and the guards did not have a chance to shoot and stop him, he said.
The suicide bomber plowed his way into a metal barrier designed to keep vehicles out of the police compound, leaving behind a crater a meter deep and three meters wide, said a police official in Hillah.
The reception building and a security tower near the entrance were leveled, and pieces of the damaged vehicles were flung around the compound.
The police officers were assembled for their morning shift change when the outgoing officers hand over equipment and weapons to the day shift, said the police official. About 60 or 70 policemen would have been in attendance, he said.
AP television footage showed ambulances and police vehicles with blaring sirens racing to and from the blast sight. A bulldozer moved debris from the scene, where twisted metal, spots of blood and piles of bricks and rubble lay. Emergency teams lifted bricks and iron bars from the debris, while shards of glass littered the site.
The fact that the bomber was able to wipe out so many policemen in one blast immediately raised questions about security at the building.
The head of the Babil Provincial Council, Kadim Tuman, said he was holding officials at the building and at the central government accountable.
“This building was not well fortified and the changing of policemen’s shifts was exposed to the enemy,” he said. The central government had also failed to provide extra police and explosive detection equipment, he said.
Iraqi officials said in the immediate wake of Bin Laden’s death that they were beefing up security around the country amid fears that insurgent groups would try to carry out strikes to demonstrate their continued strength despite the Al-Qaeda leader’s killing.
Iraqi security forces have taken steps to show they’re in control. On Wednesday, Iraqi security officials showed confessions of what they said were Al-Qaeda members who had killed a journalist from a TV station. On Thursday, the Interior Ministry displayed a cache of rockets and other munitions that had been seized this week.
The head of the ministry’s intelligence department, Maj. Gen. Mahdi Hadi Al-Fikkaiki, defended the government’s ability to protect Iraq, and said his department had foiled many terror attacks before they’d been carried out. But he acknowledged that there was no way to make the country 100 percent safe.
Fawaz A. Gerges, a London-based expert on Al-Qaeda, said offshoots like Al-Qaeda in Iraq may try to carry out terror attacks as a way to show the American government and local authorities that they still exist and remain dangerous.
“I think Iraqis should brace themselves for more insidious attacks in the next few days and the next few weeks,” he said.
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article383143.ece
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Zawahiri betrayed Osama: Saudi paper
May 6, 2011
Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was betrayed by his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri who led US forces to his hideout as the two were involved in an intense power struggle, a Saudi newspaper has reported.
The two top al Qaeda men had differences and the courier who led US forces to bin Laden was working and had more loyalties for Zawahiri, al Watan newspaper reported quoting Arab sources.
"The Egyptian faction of al-Qaeda led by Zawahiri was de facto running the militant group, after bin Laden was taken ill in 2004 and they were trying to take full control," the paper said.
The courier was a Pakistani national and not a Kuwaiti as the US suspected and the man knew he was being followed but disguised the fact.
The paper claimed it was Zawahiri's faction which had persuaded Osama to leave tribal areas close to Afghanistan-Pakistan border to take shelter instead in Abbottabad, where he was finally killed by US SEALs on Monday.
The plan to dispose off bin Laden had been hatched by a prominent al-Qaeda commander Saif al Adel of Egyptian descent, who returned to Pakistan from Iran, last autumn.
Al Adel had reportedly escaped to Iran escorting Osama's other son and family members after 9/11.
Al-Adel is a member of the majlis al shura of al-Qaeda and a member of its military committee, and he provided military and intelligence training to members of al-Qaeda and Egyptian Islamic Jihad in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Sudan, and to anti-UN Somali tribes.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/336551/Zawahiri-betrayed-Osama-Saudi-paper.html
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Pakistan warns US, India on raids, denies ISI-Qaeda links
May 6, 2011
Faced with American fury and domestic anger, Pakistan Thursday blew hot and cold on Osama bin Laden -- denying links with Al Qaeda and warning Washington and New Delhi against any more air raids of the kind which killed the world's most wanted terrorist.
In the most substantive official reaction since US special forces killed Osama in a mansion in Abbottabad city Monday, Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir took pains to underline that while Pakistan remained committed to battle terrorism, its sovereignty needed to be respected.
In veiled remarks that it would not take any more intrusion by anyone kindly, Bashir said that Pakistan's leaders and people were proud of their "dignity, honour and make no mistake..".
Full report:
http://www.dailypioneer.com/336544/Pakistan-warns-US-India-on-raids-denies-ISI-Qaeda-links.html
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US, Pakistan threaten each other with military action
May 6, 2011
Chidanand Rajghatta,
WASHINGTON: Barely disguising mutual antagonism, the United States and Pakistan on Thursday threatened each other with military action in the aftermath of the American raid on the Abbottabad compound to kill Osama bin Laden, even as sober elements on both sides scrambled to save the relationship from total breakdown.
The White House led the way in publicly reiterating that it would not hesitate to carry out more such special operations in Pakistan if it did not act against terrorists holed up in the country. A lengthy Pakistani foreign office statement that the US incursion could not become the standard operating procedure or precedent for US or other countries did nothing to dissuade Washington from re-asserting the tough Obama policy: if there are terrorists inside Pakistan and it does not act, then the US will.
Full report:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/US-Pakistan-threaten-each-other-with-military-action/articleshow/8172679.cms
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Pak warns India: Don't even think of US-like strike
May 6, 2011
Omer Farooq Khan
ISLAMABAD: Spooked by the Abbottabad stealth raid that exposed Pakistan's defences, Islamabad's top civilian and military leadership on Thursday warned a similar move by India will trigger military retaliation.
A statement issued after army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani called a meeting of his corps commanders in Rawalpindi said the generals took "serious note of assertions made by the Indian military leadership about conducting similar operations."
"Any misadventure of this kind will be responded to very strongly. There should be no doubt about it," the statement warned.
Earlier in the day, Pakistan's foreign secretary Salman Bashir led a tirade against India, saying: "Any other country that would ever act (similarly) on the assumption that it has the might ... will find it has made a basic miscalculation." Bashir's was the first press conference by a senior civil servant since the Abbottabad raid.
Bashir and Kayani were reacting a day after India's military chief General V K Singh and Air Chief Marshal P V Naik said New Delhi had the teeth to hit terrorists holed up in Pakistan cities.
Full report:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/Pak-warns-India-Dont-even-think-of-US-like-strike/articleshow/8173696.cms
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Assad deploys Syrian troops before Friday prayers
May 6, 2011
AMMAN: Security forces have moved into central Syria and coastal areas before Friday prayers in a test of will for demonstrators determined to maintain protests against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad.
In a show of force, tanks have taken up positions near the urban centres of Homs, Rastan and Banias in the past two days.
Full report:
http://www.dawn.com/2011/05/06/assad-deploys-syrian-troops-before-friday-prayers.html
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Mubarak’s feared interior minister Al-Adly thrown in jail for 12 years
May 6, 2011
CAIRO: A court Thursday sentenced publicly reviled former Egyptian Interior Minister Habib Al-Adly to 12 years for corruption.
Al-Adly, who ran Mubarak’s security services for more than a decade before the strongman’s overthrow in February in the face of 18 days of mass protests, was convicted of money-laundering and illicitly enriching himself while in office.
Full report:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article383194.ece
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US drone strike in Yemen kills Al-Qaeda duo
May 6, 2011
SANAA: Two people were killed Thursday in a predawn US drone attack targeting Al-Qaeda operatives in Shabwa province, a local journalist told Arab News by telephone. The government claims the men were killed by Yemeni security forces.
The journalist, who preferred anonymity, said a drone was following Al-Qaeda leader Saud Al-Harad but couldn’t hit him in the first strike that occurred at 3:30 a.m. in Al-Awash, Nisab district.
Full report:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article383181.ece
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Legislation introduced in US to freeze financial aid to Pak
May 6, 2011
WASHINGTON: A legislation has been introduced in the US House of Representatives which if passed would cut aid to Pakistan unless the state department can certify that Islamabad was not harbouring slain al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden.
"Osama bin Laden has met his maker, and we appreciate the Navy SEALs for arranging the meeting, but Pakistan gives us some concern. It seems like Pakistan might be playing both sides, and they have a lot of explaining to do," Texas Republican Ted Poe said in his remarks on the floor of the House after introducing the bill.
Full report:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Legislation-introduced-in-US-to-freeze-financial-aid-to-Pak/articleshow/8167898.cms
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'Pak refused to help apprehend Osama before 9/11'
May 6, 2011
Washington : As the discovery of al Qaeda chief in Pakistan raises fresh questions about US-Pakistan relations, newly released declassified documents have showed as early as 1998 American officials concluded that Islamabad "is not disposed to be especially helpful on the matter of terrorist Osama bin Laden".
The National Security Archive said that according to previously secret US documents, Pakistani officials repeatedly refused to act on the Bin Laden problem, despite mounting pressure from American authorities.
Instead, in the words of a US Embassy cable, Pakistani sources "all took the line that the issue of bin Laden is a problem the US has with the Taliban, not with Pakistan."
The documents in this compilation – part of the National Security Archive's developing Osama Bin Laden File – were obtained by the Archive through the Freedom of Information Act.
Full report:
http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/786697/
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Pak Govt. ‘high levels’ knew whereabouts of Bin Laden: Carl Levin
May 6, 2011
WASHINGTON: Sen. Carl Levin said 'high levels' of the Pakistani government knew where Osama bin Laden was hiding, must know where Mullah Omar is too.
The Senate Armed Services Committee, Levin said, has already started a preliminary investigation into Pakistan's involvement and, depending on the results of that investigation, will decide whether to hold public hearings to investigate further.
"We need these questions answered about whether or not the top level of the Pakistan government knew or was told by the ISI, their intelligence service, about anything, about this suspicious activity for five years in a very, very centralized place," Levin said.
Beyond his suspicions about Pakistan's role in harboring bin Laden, Levin said he has "no doubt" that the highest levels of the Pakistani government are protecting other terrorist targets -- such as Taliban leader Mullah Omar and the leaders of the Haqqani terror network -- who have been responsible for the deaths of American troops in Afghanistan.
"These people are killing us. Killing our Afghan allies. Killing our coalition partners by crossing the border," Levin said. "They're being given a safe haven in Pakistan. So the government of Pakistan is going to continue to say they didn't know bin Laden was there. It's kind of hard to believe that higher-level people didn't know, but they'll continue to say that. But what they won't say is that they don't know where the Haqqani terrorists are because they do know, and they've told us they know."
http://www.thenews.jang.com.pk/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=15165
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US needs Pak assistance to pursue extremists: Kerry
May 6, 2011
WASHINGTON: Key US senators appealed Thursday for a calm reaction after Osama bin Laden was found in Pakistan, saying it was vital to preserve cooperation with the nuclear-armed nation.
Full report:
http://www.thenews.jang.com.pk/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=15158
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Calls for Kadhafi departure 'immoral': Libya govt
May 6, 2011
TRIPOLI: Calls for the departure of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi are morally wrong, a government spokesman said Thursday, while dismissing an international meeting on the North African country in Rome.
"They are saying to the Libyans, 'You do not know what is good for you. We are going to take the bad choices out for you and leave you with only the good choices, so you will not make a mistake," Mussa Ibrahim told reporters in Tripoli, referring to calls for Kadhafi to go. "It is wrong, morally, legally and logically, to condition the Libyan choice."
And he dismissed the meeting of the International Contact Group on Libya in Rome, saying the world should instead be listening to a large gathering of Libyan tribal leaders on Thursday in Tripoli.
Full report:
http://www.thenews.jang.com.pk/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=15157
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Washington seeks to free up Qaddafi’s frozen assets for fighters
May 6, 2011
ROME: The United States is trying to free up part of $30 billion it has frozen in Libyan assets so it can better support opponents of Muammar Qaddafi, US Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton told a conference Thursday on Libya.
Full report:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article383233.ece
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Hillary warns Qadhafi
May 6, 2011
Narayan Lakshman
Washington: United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has refused to rule out an Abbottabad-like covert-operations strike against Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi.
At a news conference in Rome, where Ms. Clinton is attending a meeting of the Libya Contact Group, she was asked whether it was imaginable that an operation such as the one conducted in Pakistan to take out Osama bin Laden could take place in Tripoli, given the National Transition Council rebel formation considered Mr. Qadhafi a legitimate target.
Full report:
http://www.hindu.com/2011/05/06/stories/2011050668642000.htm
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Mubarak sons questioned today
May 6, 2011
The Illicit Gains Authority today began its questioning of ousted president Hosni Mubarak's two sons, Alaa and Gamal, in Tora prison. The brothers are being investigated for alleged corruption, wasting public money and abusing their position for personal gain.
During today's first session, the deposed president's sons were presented with the results of an investigation into their wealth. Furthermore, a member of the judicial committee commissioned to seek the return of funds and properties of former Egyptian officials is to question the two on their wealth and accounts abroad.
Full report:
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/11491/Egypt/Politics-/Mubarak-sons-questioned-today-.aspx
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Bin Laden’s death: US authorities try to allay Muslims’ fear
May 6, 2011
WASHINGTON – The Muslim American community received the news of death of Osama Bin Laden with a sense of relief and hope that it will mark a new beginning in US relations with Muslims at home and overseas.
Leading Islamic organizations and civil rights groups marked Bin Laden’s death by announcing that justice finally came to the Al-Qaeda leader who represented the face of global terrorism to Americans and the world.
Muslim American organizations also expressed their gratitude that in announcing the death of Bin Laden; President Barack Obama used the event to reiterate that America was not at war with Islam.
Full report:
http://arabnews.com/world/article383231.ece
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Shame and anger in Pakistan over bin Laden raid
May 6, 2011
A sense of shame swelled in Pakistan Thursday over the unearthing of Osama bin Laden so close to Islamabad, along with anger at the ease with which US forces picked off the Al-Qaeda leader on its soil.
The country has been left wondering how US Navy SEALs managed to chopper into bin Laden's compound undetected, kill him and fly off with his body near an academy training the military, Pakistan's most respected institution.
But there is also lingering disbelief that the Al-Qaeda mastermind was actually shot dead in early Monday's operation, following US President Barack Obama's announcement that no photograph would be released of his body.
"Pakistan and its security apparatus have become something of a laughing stock, with the media around the world highlighting the discovery of the world's most wanted man at walking distance from a leading military academy," right-wing English-language daily The News said in an editorial.
"The embarrassment which hangs all around cannot be disguised... These questions include how secure Pakistan -- and its nuclear weapons -- really are, given that helicopters were able to fly undetected deep into our territory."
In the violent southern metropolis of Karachi, mistrust of the US version of events was running rampant, particularly in light of Obama's declaration that the photo evidence would be kept secret on national security grounds.
"It has always lied and ditched its allies, so why trust its leadership when they say they have killed Osama. They don't release the picture because it could expose their lies," said Mehmood Azeem, 55, a medical practitioner.
A senior government official in Sindh's provincial administration voiced suspicion that the national establishment were part of a large cover-up over the commando raid in Abbottabad, 30 miles (50 kilometres) from the capital.
"We don't know exactly what happened that night. What's more embarrassing is that our civilian and military leadership are hand in glove in the hush," said the official, Ahmed, who would give only his first name.
Jang, the biggest selling Urdu-language daily, headlined its editorial: "Don't keep the nation in the dark: Bring the facts to the fore."
Full report:
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/9/11466/World/International/Shame-and-anger-in-Pakistan-over-bin-Laden-raid.aspx
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No parallel between 9/11 and 26/11: US
May 6, 2011
WASHINGTON: US has refrained from drawing a parallel between 9/11 and the dastardly Mumbai attacks and appeared to be unwilling to support any similar "hot pursuit" Indian effort as done by the US Special Forces in Pakistan to kill al Qaida chief Osama bin Laden.
"I don't want to speculate too broadly about an operation that was clearly unique in the history of the US and the history of the world, where we had an individual who was possibly the most wanted man in the world and had perpetrated heinous crimes against not only American citizens but citizens around the globe," state department spokesman Mark Toner said.
He was responding to question if the US policy of "right to self defense" applies to other countries including India as the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attacks are roaming freely inside Pakistan.
Full report:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/No-parallel-between-9/11-and-26/11-US/articleshow/8175275.cms
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China for global support to Pakistan
May 6, 2011
Ananth Krishnan
BEIJING: China on Thursday called on the international community to continue supporting Pakistan, amid increasing criticism of the country's efforts to tackle terrorism following the killing of Osama bin Laden near a military academy.
Even as a growing number of lawmakers in Washington called for a review of the substantial financial assistance to Pakistan, China mounted a strong defence of its “all-weather” strategic ally and neighbour, describing it as being “at the forefront of international counterterrorism efforts”.
Full report:
http://www.hindu.com/2011/05/06/stories/2011050668622000.htm
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Al-Qaida plotted 9/11 anniversary rail attack: US
May 6, 2011,
WASHINGTON: Al-Qaida considered attacking the US rail sector on the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, US government officials said on Thursday in describing intelligence from Osama bin Laden's hide-out in Pakistan.
They said some evidence was found indicating the al-Qaida leader or his associates had engaged in discussions or planning for a possible attack on a train inside the United States on September 11, 2011.
"We have no information of any imminent terrorist threat to the US rail sector, but wanted to make our partners aware of the alleged plotting," spokesman Matthew Chandler said of an intelligence message the Department of Homeland Security sent on Thursday.
The department and other US agencies have been reviewing the treasure trove of information from bin Laden's compound in Pakistan seized by the United States during the raid this week that killed the al-Qaida leader.
An initial review of the information by US intelligence analysts indicates that bin Laden, while in Abbottabad, played a direct role for years in plotting terror attacks, and was not just an inspirational figure to al-Qaida, The New York Times reported on Thursday.
"He wasn't just a figurehead," the Times quoted a US official as saying. "He continued to plot and plan, to come up with ideas about targets, and to communicate those ideas to other senior Qaeda leaders."
Full report:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Al-Qaida-plotted-9/11-anniversary-rail-attack-US/articleshow/8174482.cms
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Osama bin Laden death: Afghanistan 'had Abbottabad lead four years ago'
May 6, 2011
Jon Boone
Former Afghan intelligence chief Amrullah Saleh at a rally yesterday. Photograph: Kamran Jebreili/AP
Afghan intelligence believed Osama bin Laden was hiding in an area close to Abbottabad four years ago – but no action was taken after the claim was furiously rejected by Pakistan's president, Afghanistan's former intelligence chief has said.
Agents working for the National Directorate of Security (NDS), the country's intelligence service, worked out that the world's most wanted man must be inside Pakistan proper, rather than the semi-autonomous tribal areas, as early in 2004, Amrullah Saleh told the Guardian.
Full report:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/05/osama-bin-laden-afghan-intelligence-abbottabad-lead/print
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EU stands by Pakistan despite Osama bin Laden doubts
May 6, 2011
BRUSSELS: The European Union says it will not turn its back on Pakistan even though the revelation that Osama bin Laden lived comfortably for years close to the capital has raised questions about the role its security serices played.
EU spokesman Michael Mann said Thursday "there can be no doubt" Pakistan will remain an important partner in the region and that Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani will continue to receive EU backing.
In the United States, politicians and legislators have been pointing fingers at Pakistan, questioning what and when the authorities knew about bin Laden's hideaway. Pakistani officials say they did not know where bin Laden was hiding.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/EU-stands-by-Pakistan-despite-Osama-bin-Laden-doubts/articleshow/8169584.cms
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Osama not a martyr, but a mass killer of Muslims: Clinton
May 6, 2011
WASHINGTON: Slain al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden, who was shot dead in his hideout by special US forces in Pakistan, was a mass killer of Muslims and not a martyr as a few people are trying to portray, secretary of state Hillary Clinton has said.
In her remarks to the National Conference of Editorial Writers, Clinton said the state department is now working on a narrative "that will convince people he was a murderer, not a martyr," and that bin Laden murdered more Muslims than anyone else.
"He was a mass killer of Muslims," she said. Noting that bin Laden had tremendous sway with so many impressionable people in many parts of the world, Clinton said the US is already seeing something of an effort by the al-Qaida remnants to decide who comes next.
"Any succession crisis provides an opportunity. A lot of people say al-Zawahiri will step into it. But that's not so clear. He doesn't have the same sense of loyalty or inspiration or track record," Clinton said.
Full report:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Osama-not-a-martyr-but-a-mass-killer-of-Muslims-Clinton/articleshow/8169922.cms
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Obama defends bin Laden sea burial as "respectful"
May 6, 2011
WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama said US forces were "respectful of the body" of Osama bin Laden when they buried his remains at sea, despite criticism from some Muslim clerics that it violated Islamic practice.
"We took more care on this than, obviously, bin Laden took when he killed 3,000 people. He didn't have much regard for how they were treated and desecrated," Obama told CBS's " 60 Minutes" program, referring to the September 11, 2001, attacks that the al-Qaida leader masterminded.
"But that, again, is something that makes us different. And I think we handled it appropriately," Obama said, according to an advance excerpt of an interview that will air in full on Sunday.
Full report:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Obama-defends-bin-Laden-sea-burial-as-respectful/articleshow/8174654.cms
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Islamabad says it will protect sovereignty
May 6, 2011
Omer Farooq Khan,
ISLAMABAD: Facing barbs of complicity and incompetence, Islamabad on Thursday hit back at the United States, alleging that Pakistan's sovereignty had been violated. He also defended the Inter-Services Intelligence, the spy agency that's being blamed for shielding al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden.
"There should not be any misunderstanding over Pakistan's defence. The country's government, armed forces and people will uphold the sovereignty of the country. Pakistan has adequate capacity to ensure its defence," Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir told reporters in Islamabad. The packed press conference in English by the country's top diplomat was a mix of belligerence and defensiveness. Observers believe it was meant for the international community.
Full report:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/Islamabad-says-it-will-protect-sovereignty/articleshow/8174163.cms
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Did ISI protect Qaeda leader?
May 6, 2011
US and European intelligence officials increasingly believe active or retired Pakistani military or intelligence officials provided some measure of aid to Osama bin Laden to stay hidden in Pakistan, a media report said. Similar elements linked to the ISI have aided other Pakistan-based terror groups
, the Haqqani militant network and Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
"There's no doubt he was protected by some in the ISI," a high-level European military-intelligence official was quoted as saying.,
The officials, who have direct working knowledge of Pakistan's spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence, were cited as saying they believe these ISI elements include some current and former intelligence and military operatives with long-standing ties to al Qaeda and other militant groups, the Journal said.
ISI denies accusation
Full report:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/americas/Did-ISI-protect-Qaeda-leader/Article1-693936.aspx
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Another violation by the U.S. will lead to review of ties, says Pakistan
May 6, 2011
Anita Joshua
ISLAMABAD: With the ISI being accused of both complicity and incompetence in Pakistan's inability to nab al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the civil and military leadership of the country on Thursday picked up cudgels for the beleaguered spy agency and sought to remind the world that its achievements in nabbing terrorists had no parallel.
At the same time, Pakistan Army admitted shortcomings in developing intelligence on Osama's presence in the country and ordered an investigation into the circumstances that led to the situation where the Central Intelligence Agency — after developing intelligence based on information provided by the ISI —did not share further leads contrary to the existing practice between the two services.
A decision to this effect was taken by the Army at the Corps Commanders meeting convened by Chief of Army Staff Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on the one-point agenda of the Osama killing. According to a statement put out by the Inter Services Public Relations, another such violation of Pakistan's sovereignty by the U.S. would warrant a review of the level of military/intelligence cooperation with Washington.
Meanwhile, describing the charge that the ISI was in cahoots with the al-Qaeda as a false hypothesis, Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir said “this cannot be validated and flies in the face of what the ISI has been able to accomplish against terrorism”.
More details
Full report:
http://www.hindu.com/2011/05/06/stories/2011050668652000.htm
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UN commission asks US for facts on Osama killing
May 6, 2011
NEW YORK: The United Nations' top human rights official called on the United States Tuesday to give the U.N. details about Osama bin Laden's killing and said that all counter-terrorism operations must respect international law.
But Navi Pillay, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that the al Qaeda leader, killed in a U.S. operation in Pakistan, had committed crimes against humanity as self-confessed mastermind of "the most appalling acts of terrorism," including the September 11, 2001 attacks on America.
Full report:
http://www.thenews.jang.com.pk/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=15143
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Kasab was curious to know about Osama Bin Laden's killing
May 6, 2011
MUMBAI: Pakistani terrorist Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab , who is currently lodged in high security Arthur Road jail here, appeared very curious and asked a volley of questions on hearing the killing of al-Qaeda mastermind Osama Bin Laden , a jail official said today.
"Kasab had overheard about the Laden's killing on Wednesday while the security men guarding him were talking about it. He then curiously started inquiring to know how Laden was killed," the official said.
Full report:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/ajmal-amir-kasab-was-curious-to-know-about-osama-bin-ladens-killing/articleshow/8177081.cms
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Australia urges Pakistan to do more in terror fight
May 6, 2011
SYDNEY: Australia said Friday Pakistan must do more to counter terrorism but cautioned against jumping to conclusions over Islamabad’s efforts to track down Osama bin Laden.
Pakistan is under intense pressure to explain how the al Qaeda chief could live within walking distance of the country’s key officer training.
Full report:
http://www.dawn.com/2011/05/06/australia-urges-pakistan-to-do-more-in-terror-fight.html
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/geelani-calls-funeral-prayers-osama/d/4591