Computer files, DVDs and documents that US commandos took from Osama bin Laden’s Pakistani hideout were starting to be examined by electronics experts yesterday in the hope they will hold clues to other Al-Qaeda leaders.
The Navy SEALS who staged the raid also took phone numbers from bin Laden’s body that could provide new leads.
The CIA has set up a task force to review the material from the highest level of Al-Qaeda’s leadership, providing a rare opportunity for US intelligence.
When a mid-level terrorist is captured, his bosses know exactly what information might be compromised and can change plans. When the boss is taken, everything might be compromised, but nobody knows for sure.
A key issue for President Barack Obama, meanwhile, is whether to release graphic images of bin Laden’s corpse. Doing so could dispel doubts that bin Laden is dead. The worry, though, is that it would feed anti-US sentiment.
CIA director Leon Panetta said at least one photo is likely to be released. Bin Laden’s hideout was in the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad, the same city where Indonesian terror suspect Umar Patek was arrested in January.
Indonesian officials said Mr Patek, who is a suspect in the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, was in Pakistan to meet bin Laden when he was arrested. But a senior US counterterrorism source said that Mr Patek’s visit to Abbottabad appeared to be coincidental.
Five people were killed in the raid, officials said: bin Laden; his son; his most trusted courier, Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti; and Mr al-Kuwaiti’s wife and brother. The latest White House account leaves open the question of whether there was any gunfire from bin Laden’s defenders in his room before the commandos shot him.
Mr Obama prepared to visit New York City’s ground zero to mark the end of one of history’s most intense manhunts and to remember anew the victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks at the hands of bin Laden’s organisation. He invited former president George W. Bush, who once famously said he wanted bin Laden “dead or alive”, to join him, but he declined.
The White House said Mr Obama’s trip will include a private meeting with family members of the victims, a meeting with emergency workers that will be open to some news coverage and a wreath-laying at the September 11 memorial.
In Washington, questions flew about whether Pakistan was complicit in protecting the mastermind of those attacks. Several Republicans and Democrats in Congress have raised the possibility of cutting off US aid to Pakistan. The Pakistani government has denied suggestions that its security forces knew anything about bin Laden’s hideout or failed to spot suspicious signs in a city with a heavy military presence.
While tensions grew, efforts were also apparent to contain the damage in an important if chequered relationship. The Obama administration pushed back against the talk of punishing Pakistan.