Britain ‘shares Pakistan’s struggle against terror’

DAVID CAMERON insisted it was in Britain’s national interest to continue to co-operate with Pakistan in the fight against terrorism, despite concerns over the way Osama bin Laden was discovered hiding in a major garrison town.

The prime minister said there were “searching questions” for the Pakistani government to answer after US special forces tracked down the al-Qaida leader to a complex close the country’s leading military academy.

But in a statement to MPs, he stressed that Pakistan had suffered more at the hands of terrorism than any other nation.

“I believe it is in Britain’s national interest to recognise that we share the same struggle against terrorism,” he said. “That’s why we will continue to work with our Pakistani counterparts on intelligence gathering, tracing plots and taking action to stop them.”

Mr Cameron sought to use the disclosure that bin Laden had apparently spent years living in comfort to debunk the “myth” of the al-Qaida leader as a brave guerrilla fighter.

“The myth of bin Laden was one of a freedom fighter, living in austerity and risking his life for the cause as he moved in the hills and mountainous caverns of the tribal areas,” he said.

“The reality of bin Laden was very different — a man who encouraged others to make the ultimate sacrifice while he himself hid in the comfort of a large, expensive villa in Pakistan, experiencing none of the hardship he expected his supporters to endure.”

Mr Cameron again paid tribute to the “courage and skill’ of the US Navy Seals team.

The prime minister stressed, however, that the death of bin Laden did not mean the end of the terrorist threat to Britain.

He warned that al-Qaida affiliates in Yemen and north Africa would try to show they could still operate effectively, while there was still the danger of a “lone-wolf attack” by a radicalised individual.

“While bin Laden is gone, the threat of al-Qaida remains,” he said. “So we must be more vigilant than ever — and we must maintain that vigilance for some time to come.”