Bin Laden Hosts at Compound Were Two Pakistanis
By CARLOTTA GALL
Published: May 3, 2011
ABBOTTABAD, Pakistan — Osama bin Laden relied in his last days on two Pakistanis, in their 30s, one of whom, according to American officials, was his most trusted courier. Bin Laden no longer had a circle of Arab bodyguards, or mujahedeen who had fought with him against the Soviet Union, but two married men and their young families.
They were known here as Arshad Khan and Tareq Khan, although one police official said Arshad was not his real name and he carried a fake identity card. Although they have been reported to be brothers by American officials, they were actually cousins, Arshad was in his late 30s and Tareq in his early 30s, according to a neighbor who gave his name only as Qassim, who lives directly opposite and whose father worked as their watchman for several years.
They were Pashtuns and came from Charsadda, the northwest frontier region close to Afghanistan, and moved to Abbottabad seven years ago. It remains unclear how they came to know Bin Laden and whether the men were known to the Pakistani military or intelligence services.
A security official following the case said that Arshad Khan had an old national identity card in his name, but did not possess one of the new computerized identity cards. The old cards were often fakes so Arshad Khan may be his real name, the official said.
On Tuesday police removed the cordon around the area where they lived in Bilal Town, a middle class neighborhood on the edge of this country town, where new development is spreading out into the fields, and allowed journalists up to the compound where American forces found and killed Bin Laden Sunday night.
No one living here seemed to have any idea of the important fugitive who was living behind the high walls, nor did they know well the two Pakistanis who owned the house.
But they said they were model neighbors, who never caused trouble, who greeted people courteously on the street, and strolled with their children in the fields around their house.
Both men were married and had pre-school age children; Arshad had three and Tareq had four children, according to the matriarch of a family living on an alley 100 yards to north of the compound. She refused to give her name because she did not want to be quoted by name in a newspaper.
Nine children between the ages of two and 12 years and three women, one of whom was Arab, were taken away from the compound by the Pakistani military after the raid to the military hospital in town, security officials said. Bin Laden’s daughter was critically wounded and was being cared for in the hospital, the security official said. Police and security officials spoke on condition of anonymity in accordance with the rules of their work. The difference in numbers indicate that possibly one woman and two children of the group belonged to bin Laden.
Full story:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/04/world ... pound.html
