Pakistani media say authorities have detained a wife and a daughter of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden who were inside the Pakistani compound where he was killed by U.S. Navy SEALs early Monday.
The reports quoted Pakistani intelligence officials as saying Wednesday that bin Laden's Yemeni wife and 12-year-old daughter were among several women and children detained after the U.S. raid in the city of Abbottabad.
The U.S. network ABC News identified the wife as Amal Ahmed Abdul Fatah, and Pakistani media published a picture of her passport Wednesday. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Tuesday that bin Laden's wife had rushed toward a U.S. Navy SEAL and was shot in the leg but not killed.
The reports also quote Pakistani officials as saying the 12-year-old daughter told authorities that she saw her father shot and killed before his body was taken away.
|
VOA's Ira Mellman spoke with Sanjay Puri, Chairman of the US-India Political Action Committee, which has called for the congressional hearings into indications that some elements of the Pakistani government might have known the whereabouts of Osama Bin Laden. |
White House spokesman Jay Carney said Tuesday the 40-minute long raid on a luxury compound in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad killed four people, including bin Laden, an unidentified woman and two al-Qaida couriers. He said bin Laden was killed while "resisting" the operation but was unarmed, while the woman died in crossfire during a firefight.
A day earlier, President Barack Obama's counterterrorism advisor John Brennan said five people were killed, including bin Laden, a woman "presumed to be his wife," two al-Qaida "facilitators" and bin Laden's son Hamza.
Carney said Wednesday that Brennan's reference to bin Laden's son was "accurate." The spokesman also said he would not elaborate on the narrative of the raid that he presented Tuesday, saying such information represented operational details that could compromise future U.S. counterterrorism efforts.
It was not clear why bin Laden's son Hamza was left out of Carney's narrative on Tuesday.
