Osama Bin Laden told children to live in peace in the West

LONDON: Slain Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden urged his younger children to go live peacefully in the West and get a university education, his brother-in-law said in an interview published Sunday.

Zakaria al-Sadah, the brother of bin Laden’s Yemeni fifth wife Amal, told Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper that the Saudi-born extremist believed his
children “should not follow him down the road to jihad.”

“He told his own children and grandchildren, ‘Go to Europe and America and get a good education,’” al-Sadah told the Sunday Times.

Al-Sadah said bin Laden told them: “You have to study, live in peace and don’t do what I am doing or what I have done.”

Bin Laden was killed in a commando raid in May 2011 by US Navy SEALS at a house in the garrison town of Abbottabad, northwest Pakistan, where he had been living for several years.

Al-Sadah said that in November he had seen his sister for the first time since she was shot in the knee during the raid, and had since been allowed to have a number of meetings with her in the presence of guards.

He said the three wives and nine children who were in the compound — some are bin Laden’s children and others are his grandchildren — have been held for months in a three-room flat in Islamabad.

They are guarded by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spy agency, he said.

The Sunday Times published what it said was the first photograph to show some of the young children from the compound: two sons and a daughter, and two grandsons and a granddaughter.

The children were still traumatised after seeing the raid in which bin Laden died, al-Sadah said.

“These children have seen their father killed and they need a caring environment, not a prison — whatever you think of their father and what he has done,” he said.

A Pakistani commission investigating the raid said in October that it had lifted travel restrictions on Bin Laden’s family and al-Sadah flew to Islamabad in November to take Amal and her children home.

But he said Pakistani officials had refused to let him take them.

There was no immediate response to the claims from Pakistani officials. AGENCIES

Pakistan gave China access to US stealth Copter: FT

Pakistan gave China access to the previously unknown “stealth” helicopter that crashed during the commando raid that killed Osama bin Laden in May despite explicit requests from the CIA not to, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.

The revelation, if confirmed, is likely to further shake the US.-Pakistan relationship, which has been improving slightly after hitting its lowest point in decades following the May 2 bin Laden raid.

Interview with man who sold land bin Laden

ABBOTTABAD: The Pakistani man who owned the compound that sheltered Osama bin Laden in his final years said he was buying the property for “an uncle,” according to the doctor who sold him a piece of the land in 2005.

The man was identified in property records as Mohammad Arshad; neighbors said one of two Pakistani men living in the house went by the name Arshad Khan.

The two names apparently refer to the same man and both names may be fake.

But one thing is clear, bin Laden relied on a small, trusted inner circle as lifelines to the outside that provided for his daily needs such as food and medicine and kept his location secret.

And it appears they did not betray him.

Among those in that inner circle were Arshad and another man who has been identified as either his brother or cousin.

Arshad is suspected as the courier who ultimately led the Americans to bin Laden, unwittingly, after years of painstaking tracking.

American officials said the courier and his brother were killed in the American commando raid on Monday in the northwestern Pakistani town of Abbottabad.

Qazi Mahfooz ul Haq, a doctor, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he sold a plot of land to Arshad in 2005.

He said the buyer was a sturdily built man who had a tuft of hair under his lower lip.

He spoke with an accent that sounded like it was from Waziristan, a tribal region close to Afghanistan that is home to many al-Qaida operatives.

Neighbors identified Arshad Khan as one of two Pakistani men living in the house where bin Laden hid for up to six years.

Property records obtained by The Associated Press show Mohammad Arshad bought adjoining plots in four stages between 2004 and 2005 for 48-thousand US Dollars.

Ul Haq saw Arshad a few times after he sold him the land, he said.

“He was a good and simple humble type of man,” he said.

Arshad bought two other plots used for the compound in a less transparent transaction in November 2004, according to a review of the property records.

Raja Imtiaz Ahmed, who previously owned the two plots, said he sold them to a middleman who may have then passed them on to Arshad.

He could not recall the middleman’s name and was looking for records that would reveal it.

Al Qaeda leader bin Laden dead, Obama says

WASHINGTON: Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed on Sunday in a firefight with U.S. forces in Pakistan and his body was recovered, President Barack Obama announced on Sunday.

“Justice has been done,” Obama said in a dramatic, late-night White House speech announcing the death of the elusive mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the New York and Washington.

Obama said U.S. forces led the operation that killed bin Laden. No Americans were killed in the operation and they took care to avoid civilian casualties, he said.

“The United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda and a terrorist who is
responsible for the murder of thousands of men, women and children,” Obama said.

It is a major accomplishment for Obama and his national security team, after many Americans had given up hope of ever finding bin Laden.

A crowd gathered outside the White House to celebrate, chanting, “USA, USA.”

Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush, had repeatedly vowed to bring bin Laden to justice “dead or alive” for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington that killed nearly 3,000 people, but never did before leaving office in early 2009.

U.S. officials said that after searching in vain for the al Qaeda leader since he disappeared in Afghanistan in late 2001, the Saudi-born extremist was killed in the Pakistani town of Abbotabad and his body recovered.

Having the body may help convince any doubters that bin Laden is really dead.

He had been the subject of a search since he eluded U.S. soldiers and Afghan militia forces in a large-scale assault on the Tora Bora mountains of Afghanistan in 2001.

The trail quickly went cold after he disappeared and many intelligence officials believed he had been hiding in Pakistan.

While in hiding, bin Laden had taunted the West and advocated his militant Islamist views in videotapes spirited from his hideaway.

Besides Sept. 11, Washington has also linked bin Laden to a string of attacks, including the 1998 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and the 2000 bombing of the warship USS Cole in Yemen.

Bin Laden is dead, claims US media

According to British and American media, Bin Laden is killed in a US missile attack. On the other hand, the Afghan and senior US officials have also confirmed that Bin Laden has been killed.

According to defence experts, Bin Laden death will come as a fatal blow to the al Qaeda’s striking capability. US President will address to his nation to explain the facts about the death. The al Qaeda leader’s dead body has also been found, it is claimed.

Bin Laden criticises Pakistan relief mission

DUBAI: Osama bin Laden criticised relief efforts in Pakistan and called for action against climate change in what appeared to be a new audio tape from the al Qaeda leader issued on Friday in an Islamist forum.

The audio message, entitled “Pauses with the Method of Relief Work”, was about 11 minutes long and was broadcast with a video showing still images of Bin Laden and images of natural disasters, the Islamist website used by al Qaeda said.

The authenticity of the tape and its precise release date could not be immediately confirmed. However, bin Laden congratulates Muslims on the holy month of Ramadan, which started on Aug. 11 and ended Sept. 9.

He describes the fate of the Pakistani people following catastrophic floods, saying: “Millions of children are out in the open air, lacking basic elements of living, including drinking water, resulting in their

Transit trade beneficial for economy, say experts

ISLAMABAD: Economic and business experts here on Tuesday said that understanding between Pakistan and Afghanistan on all major issues related to Transit Trade would benefit both the countries.

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Transit trade beneficial for economy, say experts

TBL rakes in Rs50m in opening weekend

MUMBAI: Debutant director Abhishek Sharma’s satire Tere Bin Laden has grossed over Rs 50 million in its opening weekend.

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TBL rakes in Rs50m in opening weekend

Mickey Mouse with Nazi symbol ignites anger

WARSAW: A huge outdoor art poster that blends Mickey Mouse’s image with that of a swastika and a nude woman’s body is causing a stir in Poland, where memories of the suffering inflicted by Nazi Germany remain strong.

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Mickey Mouse with Nazi symbol ignites anger

Pakistan says no to bin Laden comedy

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has banned an Indian-made comedy film about Osama bin Laden for fear it could spark terrorist attacks, officials said Wednesday.

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Pakistan says no to bin Laden comedy

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