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Osamas killing: US assailants instructed to fight Pakistani forces

Dunya News

The US SEALs were instructed to combat Pakistani security personnel in case of confrontation.

According to a US newspaper, About 10 days before the raid, Obama reviewed the plans and pressed his commanders as to whether they were taking along enough forces to fight their way out if the Pakistanis arrived on the scene and tried to interfere in the operation.That resulted in the decision to send two more helicopters carrying additional troops. These followed the two lead Black Hawk helicopters that carried the actual assault team. While there was no confrontation with the Pakistanis, one of those backup helicopters was ultimately brought into the scene of the raid when a Black Hawk was damaged while making a hard landing. In revealing additional details about planning for the mission, senior officials also said that two teams of specialists were on standby: One to bury Bin Laden if he was killed, and a second composed of lawyers, interrogators and translators in case he was captured alive. That team was set to meet aboard a Navy ship in the North Arabian Sea. In an effort to help mend the latest rupture in relations, the CIA director, Leon Panetta, will soon meet with Lt Gen Ahmad Shuja Pasha, head of the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, “to discuss the way forward in the common fight against al Qaeda,” an American official said.A US official said that American investigators would soon be allowed to interview Bin Laden’s three widows, now being held by Pakistani authorities, a demand that Obama’s national security adviser, Thomas E Donilon, made on television talk shows.
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