CIA watched Bin Laden from a safe-house in Abbottabad

Pakistan

CIA watched Bin Laden from a safe-house in Abbottabad

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A US newspaper has said that the CIA had been watching Osamas compound from a nearby safe-house.

06 May,2011 11:15 am

The newspaper quoted the United States officials as saying that extensive surveillance of Osama Bin Ladens hideout from a nearby CIA safe house in Abbottabad led to his killing in a Navy SEALs operation.It said that the safe house was the base for an intelligence-gathering operation that began after Bin Ladens compound was discovered last August. The operation was so exhaustive that the CIA asked Congress to reallocate tens of millions of dollars to fund it.The CIAs job was to find and fix, the newspaper quoted one US official as saying. The intelligence work was as complete as it was going to be, and it was the militarys turn to finish the target.US officials told another newspaper that the intelligence information gathered from the computer files and documents seized at his compound showed that Bin Laden had directly orchestrated Al Qaeda attacks for years from the town.The CIA had spent several months monitoring Bin Ladens hideout, watching and photographing residents and visitors from a rented house nearby.Observing from behind the mirrored glass, CIA officers used cameras with telephoto lenses and infrared imaging equipment to study the compound, and they used sensitive eavesdropping equipment to try to pick up the voices from inside the house and to intercept the cellphone calls. Satellite radar was used to search for possible escape tunnels.