ISLAMABAD: Al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden had planned to mount indiscriminate attacks on Pakistani soil before his killing in a covert US raid in Abbottabad, the documents seized by the Americans from the slain terrorist’s compound in the Pakistani garrison city have suggested. The CIA shared intelligence about possible al-Qaida attacks inside Pakistan when officials of the two countries met to explore the way forward in resetting bilateral ties, the Dawn newspaper reported quoting its sources.
The information was “based on documents seized by US Navy SEALs during the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound” in the garrison town of Abbottabad in May last year. Some details of the intelligence “revealed that before being killed in the May 2 raid, bin Laden, along with Ayman Al-Zawahiri… and other senior leaders of the terror outfit had planned to mount indiscriminate attacks on Pakistani soil,” the daily reported.
The report further said there were “conflicting reports about the shared intelligence.” One unnamed participant of a meeting said CIA Deputy Director Michael Morrell had presented a dossier to Pakistani officials while another claimed the US had provided “just a tip about what al-Qaida had been planning to do in Pakistan” without related details that could help put the jigsaw together.
The report said it was not clear whether the CIA intended to identify bin Laden’s “support network within Pakistan with the help of shared intelligence or wanted to rebuild the much-needed mutual trust for moving forward.”
The US embassy on Thursday issued a special message that said American diplomats and citizens in Pakistan had been asked to be on alert in the run-up to the first death anniversary of bin Laden on May 2. (PTI)
