Osama’s stay in Abbottabad without support system in Pak “inconceivable”: Brennan
May 3rd, 2011 - 6:07 pm ICT by ANI
London, May 3(ANI): It is “inconceivable” that Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden did not have a support system in Pakistan that allowed him to remain there for an extended period of time, US President Barack Obama’s top counter-terrorism adviser, John Brennan, has said.
The Saudi-born terrorist, who had evaded capture for a decade, was killed Sunday night in a top secret operation involving a small team of US Special Forces in Abbottabad city, located 50 kilometres northeast of Islamabad and 150 kilometres east of Peshawar.
“I think it’s inconceivable that bin Laden did not have a support system in the country that allowed him to remain there for an extended period of time,” Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, said during a White House press briefing.
“I am not going to speculate about what type of support he might have had on an official basis inside of Pakistan. We are closely talking to the Pakistanis right now, and again, we are leaving open opportunities to continue to pursue whatever leads might be out there,” he added.
Experts said it beggared belief that no one in Pakistan’s intelligence service had any idea that bin Laden was living in a huge, custom-built compound only 800 yards from the country’s military training academy.
“People have been referring to this as hiding in plain sight.Clearly this was something that was considered as a possibility. Pakistan is a large country. We are looking right now at how he was able to hold out there for so long, and whether or not there was any type of support system within Pakistan that allowed him to stay there,” Brennan said.
“We know that the people at the compound there were working on his behalf, and that’s how we ultimately found our way to that compound. But we are right now less than 24 hours after this operation, so we are talking with the Pakistanis on a regular basis now, and we’re going to pursue all leads to find out exactly what type of support system and benefactors that bin Laden might have had,” he added.
When asked: “But you don’t necessarily take them at their word that they didn’t know?” Brennan replied: “We are pursuing all leads in this issue.” (ANI)
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