CIA ran post to watch bin Laden

The United States ran a CIA post in the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad where Osama bin Laden was found, operating a team of spies for surveillance of the compound where he was found, the Washington Post said Thursday.

Citing US officials, the Post said the clandestine safe house run by the Central Intelligence Agency, was used for the supremely delicate task of gathering intelligence in the city. That effort painstakingly built up to the mission that saw US commandos swoop in a kill the Al-Qaeda chief.

The network relied on local informants and other sources to piece together a “pattern of life” in the compound where the Al-Qaeda chief had been living in secrecy in a compound surrounded by towering perimeter walls, the Post said. AFP