Thaindian News

London, May 2(ANI): Former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on Monday said the United States had violated Pakistan’s sovereignty by sending in Special Forces to kill Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.

US President Barack Obama had ordered the raid by a small team of US Special Forces, which found Laden, who had evaded capture for a decade, in a home in a fortified compound in Abbottabad city, located 50 kilometres northeast of Islamabad and 150 kilometres east of Peshawar.

“America coming to our territory and taking action is a violation of our sovereignty. Handling and execution of the operation (by US forces) is not correct. The Pakistani government should have been kept in the loop,” Musharraf told an Indian news channel.

“Foreign troops crossing the border into Pakistan will not be liked by the people of Pakistan. US forces should not have crossed over into Pakistan,” he added.

Bin Laden, accused of being behind a number of atrocities, including the attacks on New York and Washington on 11 September 2001, was at the top of the US “most wanted” list.

He had approved the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington in which nearly 3,000 people were killed, saying later that the results had exceeded his expectations.

The Pakistan government has already said that the operation was conducted “in accordance with a declared US policy”.

“This operation was conducted by the US forces in accordance with declared US policy that Osama bin Laden will be eliminated in a direct action by the US forces, wherever found in the world,” a Pakistan Foreign Ministry statement said.

US officials have said that the team went on board two Black Hawk helicopters.

“It was a military team of about two dozen, but they were operating under the authority of Leon Panetta, the CIA Director, since the US military does not have authority to operate in Pakistan. A second team of about two dozen orbited out of sight in case they were needed,” the officials said.

They also said that US troops were at the compound for less than 40 minutes.

“Laden did not go peacefully. He resisted arrest and was killed in a firefight as US troops entered the compound,” the officials said.

The officials also revealed that none of the specific intelligence resulting in the raid was shared with any other country, and only a “very small group of people” inside the Obama administration knew it was to happen.

The Pakistan government was notified after the operation was over, officials say. (ANI)