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US Asks Pakistan for Access to Bin Laden's Wives

   VOA News  May 08, 2011
   In this May 7, 2011, photo provided by NBC News, US National Security
   Adviser Tom Donilon appears on NBC's 'Meet the Press' in Washington.

Photo: AP

   In this May 7, 2011, photo provided by NBC News, White House National
   Security Adviser Tom Donilon appears on NBC's 'Meet the Press' in
   Washington.

   The United States says it wants to question three wives of Osama bin
   Laden who have been in Pakistani custody since Monday, when U.S.
   special forces raided a Pakistani compound where they had been hiding
   with the al-Qaida leader.
   U.S. National Security Adviser Tom Donilon said Sunday Pakistani
   authorities need to provide Washington with intelligence gathered from
   the hideout and access to the three wives of bin Laden, who was killed
   in the raid.
   Pakistani security personnel took over the compound in the city of
   Abbottabad shortly after the end of the covert U.S. operation and
   detained the three women and several of bin Laden's children. He had
   been in hiding since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the
   United States, for which al-Qaida claimed responsibility.
   Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is due to brief his
   nation's parliament about the raid on Monday. His government has said
   it had no prior knowledge of bin Laden's whereabouts and will not
   accept any more U.S. military incursions without Islamabad's approval.
   Pakistani authorities have identified one of the wives as Amal Ahmed
   Abdullfattah, a Yemeni national who was shot in the leg during the raid
   and received medical treatment for her wounds. U.S. officials say she
   made a threatening move against the Navy SEALs conducting the
   operation.
   Pakistani security officials say Abdullfattah told interrogators that
   she and bin Laden had lived in the compound for five years and never
   left the building. She said that prior to living at the site, they had
   lived for two and a half years in the nearby village of Chak Shah
   Mohammad.
   Journalists flocked to the village Saturday, asking residents if they
   knew where bin Laden had lived. Many villagers were puzzled by the
   media presence and said they had never seen the terrorist leader.
   Pakistani authorities say they want to repatriate bin Laden's family
   members to their countries of origin, including Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
   But, it is not clear if those countries will accept the women and
   children.
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References

   1. http://twitter.com/VOAMiddleEast
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