Three wives and eight children still in Pakistani custody

PAKISTANI authorities still have three of Osama bin Laden’s wives and eight of his children in custody, a week after the US raid that killed the Saudi terrorist leader.

The government claims no countries have asked for their return.

Pakistan gained custody of bin Laden’s family members after the covert US operation on May 2 that killed the al-Qaida chief and four others at his hideout in the north-western city of Abbottabad and put further strain on relations between the countries.

Their questioning could provide more information on the US military operation and help reveal how bin Laden was able to avoid capture nearly 10 years after the September 11, 2001, attacks that set off a massive manhunt for him. Pakistani authorities, who were deeply embarrassed by the raid, are not allowing the CIA access to them, the foreign ministry said.

Today, prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani will brief parliament on the raid, which was carried out by two dozen US Navy SEALs who helicoptered across the border from Afghanistan undetected and rappelled into the al-Qaida leader’s lair.

Pakistan’s army said it had no idea bin Laden was hiding for up to six years in Abbottabad, an army town only two-and-a-half hours’ drive from the capital, Islamabad. The claim has met with scepticism from US officials, who have repeatedly criticised Pakistan for failing to crack down on Islamist militants.

Among bin Laden’s relatives taken into custody was his Yemeni-born wife, Amal Ahmed Abdullfattah. She has told Pakistani investigators she moved to the home in 2006 and never left the compound.

One of her family members has sought a meeting with Pakistan’s ambassador to Yemen to ask about her fate and whether she is to return to Yemen. The cousin said the ambassador did not know and promised to get back to the family.

Pakistan foreign ministry spokeswoman Tahmina Janjua said no countries have asked for the return of bin Laden’s relatives. Pakistani officials, who have not disclosed where the relatives are being held, said they will be returned to their countries of origin.

One of bin Laden’s sons, Khalid, was killed during the US raid. Abdullfattah, his youngest wife, was shot in the leg and was initially taken to a military hospital, a Pakistani military official has said, while one of his daughters watched bin Laden being slain.

Abdullfattah told interrogators she never left the upper floors of the large, sparsely furnished building since she moved into bin Laden’s hideout in 2006.

Children living near bin Laden’s hideout said they never saw any Arab children or women at the compound.

“We often play cricket in a farm field but no boy from that house came here to play with us,” 15-year-old Fazil Shah said.

“Two Pashtun boys, who were surely younger than me, used to come here from that house to watch us playing cricket, but they never played with us. We never saw any Arab boy.”

At the Pentagon, a senior intelligence official said bin Laden was positively identified by comparing DNA samples taken from his body to a comprehensive DNA profile that had been compiled from bin Laden’s extended family.

“Based on that analysis, the DNA is unquestionably his,” the official said. The possibility of mistaken identity on the basis of this analysis is “approximately one in 11.8 quadrillion,” the official added.

Still, many Pakistanis don’t believe bin Laden has died.

Osman Ahmed, a public transport driver in the capital said there have been several false reports of his death before.

“[America has] killed Osama five times, now this is the sixth time,” Ahmed said. “Allah knows better whether it is true or false but my heart does not accept his killing.”