Islamabad threat forces Delhi to boost LoC vigil Dec 1, 2008
NEW DELHI/WASHINGTON: With evidence mounting of Pakistani footprints in the Mumbai strike, Islamabad has moved swiftly to pre-empt any international consolidation against it by threatening to withdraw one lakh soldiers from the war on terror on its Afghan border and move them to the Indian side if New Delhi makes any aggressive move. In Washington, Pakistans ambassador to the US Hussain Haqqani said there is no movement of Pakistani troops right now, but if India makes any aggressive... (Economic Times)
Unanswered questions over terror attacks Dec 1, 2008
A day later, Islamabad refused to send the ISI chief to New Delhi. However, most people blamed the government for being unable to stop terrorist attacks at regular intervals. (The Star Online, Malaysia)
India warns of 'grave setback' to Pakistan ties Dec 1, 2008
MUMBAI (AFP) India warned on Monday that the Mumbai attacks had dealt a "grave setback" to relations with Pakistan, as the United States urged Islamabad to show "absolute" cooperation with India's probe into the assault ... Sharma said the Islamist gunmen who launched their devastating attack on India's financial capital on Wednesday evening were "all from Pakistan" and stressed that it was time Islamabad delivered on its promise to prevent Pakistani soil being used for attacks on India. (Yahoo News -- Top Stories)
Post a comment Dec 1, 2008
I personally condemn such incident anywhere in the world whether at Marriott Hotel Islamabad or 9/11 in New York ... World saw the innocent security guards at Marriott Hotel Islamabad in CCTV footages when they were trying to stop the fire in that truck and they lost life to save others. (International Herald Tribune)
Luxury hotels difficult to protect from terrorists Dec 1, 2008
But last week's lethal attacks on two of India's most famous hotels coming just two months after a huge truck bomb devastated the Marriott in Islamabad, Pakistan have underlined the extent to which these hotels are becoming magnets for terrorists ... P.R.S. Oberoi, the chairman of the Oberoi Group, said at a news conference over the weekend that he had directed his company's hotels to step up security after the Islamabad bombing ... At the luxury Serena Hotel in Islamabad, those who wish to... (International Herald Tribune)
Pakistan willing to be flexible on Kashmir: Shaukat Aziz Dec 1, 2008
Islamabad, March 17 Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has said Pakistan can be 'flexible' on the Kashmir issue and move from 'conflict management to conflict resolution' if other stakeholders reciprocate. Addressing the inaugural session of a two-day international Kashmir conference here Friday, he said that the ongoing peace process had generated goodwill and raised the level of expectations of the people on all sides. (Yahoo News -- Kashmir Dispute)
Al-Qaeda chemical expert 'killed' Dec 1, 2008
The BBC's Syed Shoaib Hasan in Islamabad says the militant was considered part of Osama Bin Laden's inner circle and was said to be in charge of efforts to gain access to, or develop, weapons of mass destruction. Local residents said the house targeted belonged to a local tribesman and suspected militants used to stay there. (Yahoo News -- Terrorism & 9/11)
Battle for Mumbai ends Dec 1, 2008
A number of Indian officials suggested the militants were from the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba notorious for a deadly assault on the Indian parliament in 2001 that almost pushed New Delhi and Islamabad to war. But Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani insisted his country had "nothing to do with the attacks" and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi appealed to India not to get drawn into a "blame game" that could spark a dangerous confrontation. (iAfrica.com)
Turmoil in Indian leadership after attacks Dec 1, 2008
Islamabad has denied any involvement in the attack but New Delhi has demanded that it not "permit the use of its territory for terrorism against India". A Pakistani security official told local journalists at the weekend that Islamabad would move tens of thousands of its forces away from its border with Afghanistan to the Indian border if tensions continued to rise. (Sydney Morning Herald -- World)
Pakistan to discuss tension with India Dec 1, 2008
ISLAMABAD, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has summoned a national security conference to be held on Dec. 2 to review the situation arising out of the attacks in the Indian commercial city of Mumbai, according to an official here on Sunday ... Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi speaks during a news conference at the foreign ministry in Islamabad November 29, 2008 ... Islamabad has denied any role and asked India to provide evidence about the... (Xinhuanet, China)
Minister resigns over India attacks Dec 1, 2008
Lashkar, which is fighting Indian control of the disputed Kashmir region, was behind a deadly 2001 assault on the Indian parliament that pushed New Delhi and Islamabad to the brink of war. Indian media reported that the only surviving militant had identified all the Mumbai attackers as Pakistanis who had been trained by Lashkar. (Guardian News, Nigeria)
Pakistan Tries To Avoid New Battlefront Dec 1, 2008
ISLAMABAD, Dec. 1, 2008 ... (CBS) This story was written by CBS News' Farhan Bokhari in Islamabad ... The conference will take place in Islamabad as Pakistan's leaders try to avoid embroiling their relatively new government in a reinvigorated confrontation with India along the two nuclear-armed countries' shared border. (CBS News -- World)
Pakistan's Leader Appeals for Peace from India Dec 1, 2008
Officials in Islamabad have warned any escalation would force it to divert troops to the Indian border and away from a U.S.-led anti-militant campaign on the Afghan frontier ... But security officials in Islamabad said Pakistan would move troops from its western border with Afghanistan, where forces are battling al Qaeda and Taliban fighters as part of the U.S.-led campaign against militancy, to the Indian border if tension escalated. (Newsmax)
EDIT: Go To The Source Dec 1, 2008
Islamabad cant escape without accounting for this. It has promised full cooperation in investigating the attacks. (India Times, India)
Rice to visit India to manage response towards Pak Dec 1, 2008
The Bush administration is also expected to send senior military and intelligence officials to Islamabad to ask for action to dismantle the terrorism apparatus fostered by renegades in the ISI. ... But there seems little doubt where the sympathies of the hard-line Pakistani Army and its intelligence agency ISI lie, and much of the U.S-India dialogue is now focused on understanding the dynamics of the relationship between the civilian and military leadership in Islamabad, which seems to be... (India Times, India)
EDIT: Make The Case Dec 1, 2008
It is therefore pertinent that powerful global players in the western world, and China, exert their influence on the administrations in Islamabad and Dhaka and compel them to put their houses in order. India, on its part, must also invest more in global efforts to fight the scourge of ideologically-driven terror. (India Times, India)
Zardari asks India to 'resist striking out at his government' Dec 1, 2008
ISLAMABAD: Warning that militants have the power to precipitate a war in the region, President Asif Ali Zardari has asked India to "resist striking out at his government" should investigations show that "Pakistani militant groups" were responsible for the attacks in Mumbai. The Pakistani President said his country should not be punished for the three-day terrorist rampage in Mumbai that killed around 200 people including foreigners. (India Times, India)
India's Singh Seeks Support For Tougher Terror Law, Investigation Agency Nov 30, 2008
The Oberoi Group had tightened security after the Islamabad Marriott hotel was bombed in September and will seek a meeting between all hoteliers and state and national governments to review security, P.R.S. Oberoi said. Security forces recovered four AK-47s, 55 magazines and four pistols from the Trident-Oberoi hotel complex and Nariman House, Kumawat said. (Bloomberg -- Asia)
Terror Siege Ends Nov 30, 2008
Islamabad angrily denied involvement and initially promised to send its spy chief to India to assist in the investigation. But it withdrew that offer on Saturday, saying it would send a lower-ranked official instead. (CBS News)
Pakistan to investigate possible links to attacks Nov 30, 2008
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - The Pakistani government said yesterday that it would investigate any evidence of involvement in the Mumbai, India, terrorist attacks by Pakistani "nonstate actors" - a phrase generally used to mean militant groups. But Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said no proof had been presented yet by Indian authorities investigating the rampage by groups of gunmen in India's commercial capital. (Boston Globe)
Pakistani militants at center of Mumbai probe Nov 30, 2008
It was unclear what prompted the reversal, but the Pakistani source said the Islamabad government was "already bending over backwards" to be cooperative and did not "want to create more opportunities for Pakistan-bashing." Pakistan's defense minister, Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, told reporters in Islamabad, "I will say in very categoric terms that Pakistan is not involved in these gory incidents.". advertisement. (MSNBC -- International)
India minister 'quits' over raids Nov 30, 2008
Islamabad denies involvement ... Speaking after an emergency cabinet meeting in the capital Islamabad, he told reporters. (BBC News)
Mumbai attacks: Pak PM cancels Hong Kong visit Nov 30, 2008
ISLAMABAD: Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani on Sunday cancelled his official four-day visit to Hong Kong due to the situation in the country in the wake of the coordinated terror attacks in Mumbai in which the Pakistani link is suspected. Gilani was due to leave for Hong Kong today to attend the Asia meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative. (India Times)
Defence officials say Pakistan could shift focus on more immediate threat Nov 30, 2008
ISLAMABAD: Tensions with India would force Pakistan to pull nearly 100,000 troops from its western borders, Defence sources said on Saturday. The officials said Pakistan had already made it clear to the US and NATO that in case of mounting escalation with India, Pakistans priority on the war on terror would shift and it would to take care of the more immediate threat to its security. (Daily Times, Pakistan)
President vows strictest action if any Pakistani group proved involved Nov 30, 2008
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday went all out to deny any Pakistani role in the Mumbai attacks and pledged action against any group found to be involved, while advising New Delhi not to over-react. Whoever is responsible for the brutal and crude act against the Indian people and India are looking for reaction, Zardari said in an interview with Indian CNN-IBN television. (Daily Times, Pakistan)
President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, Army chief General Ashfaq Kayani decided in a meeting on Saturday it was premature to send the ISI chief to India to help probe the Mumbai terror attacks before it gave specific evidence Nov 30, 2008
Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan. Sunday, November 30, 2008. (Daily Times, Pakistan)
Mumbai terror rage ends after 60 hours... Nov 30, 2008
Islamabad has pledged to share intelligence with its rival neighbor but went back on its initial promise to send its spy chief to aid the probe, saying it would send a lower ranking official instead. As officials pointed the finger at neighboring Pakistan, some Indians looked inward and expressed anger at their own government. (The Drudge Report)
Pakistan president warns India not to over-react... Nov 30, 2008
A number of Indian officials have suggested the militants were from the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba -- notorious for a deadly assault on the Indian parliament in 2001 that pushed New Delhi and Islamabad to the edge of war. The two nuclear-armed neighbours have fought three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947. (The Drudge Report)
Pakistan rallies support as tension with India rises Nov 30, 2008
ISLAMABAD, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Pakistan's government has begun rallying support both at home and abroad as tension flared with old rival India after a bloody militant assault on the Indian city of Mumbai. India said on Sunday it had proof of a Pakistani link to the Mumbai attacks that killed nearly 200 people, raising the prospect not only of a breakdown of peace efforts between the nuclear-armed nations but of confrontation across their border. (Reuters India)
Indian allegations alarm Pakistan Nov 30, 2008
Speaking after an emergency cabinet meeting in the capital Islamabad, he told reporters ... " He pledged that intelligence officials would fully co-operate with the Indian investigation but added that the country's intelligence chief would not travel to India as earlier reported, something he called a "miscommunication". A senior security official said Pakistan had now received preliminary evidence from India, the BBC's Barbara Plett reports from Islamabad. But he warned that if India started to... (BBC News)
Pakistan May Build Up Troops on Indian Border Nov 30, 2008
ISLAMABAD -- A Pakistani official warned Saturday that troops would be diverted from its war against al Qaeda and Taliban militants and deployed on the Indian border if Pakistan felt threatened by its neighbor in the wake of the Mumbai terrorist attacks. A senior security official accused India of heightening tension between the two nuclear-armed nations by blaming "elements from Pakistan" for the coordinated terrorist attacks against Indian commercial capital which killed 195 people. (Wall Street Journal)
* MUMBAI ATTACKS : Pakistan not sending intelligence chief Nov 30, 2008
CHANGE IN DECISION: Islamabad said it would instead send a representative of the Inter-Services Intelligence to help India in investigating the Mumbai terror attacks AFP, ISLAMABAD Sunday, Nov 30, 2008, Page 5 ... Gilani cut short a stay in the eastern city of Lahore and flew back to Islamabad late pn Friday for urgent consultations after unease in military circles over the unprecedented move to send the ISI chief to India, senior government officials said. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- World)
The Mumbai dilemma for cricket Nov 30, 2008
The images from Mumbai were even more chilling than those of October's deadly bomb blast at the Marriot Hotel in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, that, like the Taj and the Oberoi, had been the city's home for touring teams ... Yet the images from Mumbai were even more chilling than those of October's deadly bomb blast at the Marriot Hotel in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, that, like the Taj and the Oberoi, had been the city's home for touring teams. (CricInfo.com)
Indian security chief resigns over Mumbai attacks Nov 30, 2008
Officials in Islamabad have warned that any escalation would force it to divert troops to the Indian border and away from a U.S.-led anti-militant campaign on the Afghan frontier ... An official in Islamabad said the next one to two days would be crucial for the nuclear-armed neighbors' relations ... (Reporting by New Delhi, Mumbai and Islamabad bureaux; Writing by Bryson Hull; Editing by John Chalmers). (Yahoo News -- Top Stories)
Prime Minister calls for calm Nov 30, 2008
New Delhi has accused "elements in Pakistan'' of involvement in the three-day siege that wreaked havoc on India's financial capital. And there is growing pressure on the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to exact retribution. Islamabad, however, denies any role in the attacks, warning New Delhi against an over-reaction. Mr Rudd called for calm, reminding both nations terrorism was the enemy of all civilised people. "What is called (for). is calm between Islamabad and New Delhi in what... (Melbourne Herald Sun)
Australians arrive home from Mumbai Nov 30, 2008
Islamabad, however, denies any role in the attacks, warning New Delhi against an over-reaction ... "What is called (for) ... is calm between Islamabad and New Delhi in what could be a very difficult period ahead," he said. (Sydney Morning Herald)
Post a comment Nov 30, 2008
I personally condemn such incident anywhere in the world whether at Marriott Hotel Islamabad or 9/11 in New York ... World saw the innocent security guards at Marriott Hotel Islamabad in CCTV footages when they were trying to stop the fire in that truck and they lost life to save others. (International Herald Tribune)
Mumbai Attacks May Stall India-Pakistan Peace Process (Update1) Nov 30, 2008
Officials of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, will instead be sent to India, said , Pakistan premier's press secretary, in a telephone interview from the capital Islamabad. Zardari had said Nov. 28 he would send the intelligence head to India for the first time to counter claims that the attackers are linked to his country. (Bloomberg)
Mercy flights arrive in Australia from Mumbai Nov 30, 2008
Laskhar-e-Taiba is notorious for a deadly assault on the Indian parliament in 2001 that pushed New Delhi and Islamabad to the brink of war ... Lashkar is officially outlawed in Pakistan, but India has repeatedly accused Islamabad of failing to clamp down on the organisation and its training camps. (Melbourne Herald Sun)
India prods Pakistan link Nov 30, 2008
The group, which is fighting against Indian control of Kashmir, was behind the deadly 2001 assault on the Indian parliament that pushed New Delhi and Islamabad to the brink of war. Indian media reported that the badly-injured gunman had identified all the attackers as Pakistan citizens and acknowledged that they were trained by Lashkar-e-Taiba. (iAfrica.com)
Pakistan U-turns on sending spy chief to India Nov 30, 2008
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -- Pakistan demanded evidence for Indian charges it was involved in the Mumbai attacks and reversed its decision to send its spy chief to aid a probe, muddying efforts to avert a crisis between the nuclear-armed neighbors ... "We stand shoulder to shoulder with the Indian people to defeat this common enemy," Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told a news conference in Islamabad ... Two senior Pakistani security officials said the Indians were pointing fingers at... (WSVN-TV Miami, FL)
TV: Pakistan's intelligence chief not to go to India Nov 30, 2008
ISLAMABAD, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- The Director General of the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan will not visit India, private TV channel Geo reported Saturday. The cabinet held a meeting at which the situation in the wake of the terrorist attacks in India's Mumbai was discussed and the federal cabinet approved the decision not to send the intelligence chief to India, said the report. (Xinhuanet, China)
Pakistan pledges action on any group involved in Mumbai attacks Nov 30, 2008
Sunday, November 30, 2008. " onclick="Next();" src="/images/butt_next. (Channelnewsasia.com)
Empathy and fear of fallout in Pak Nov 30, 2008
ISLAMABAD: Pakistanis are traditionally phlegmatic when bombs go off on Indian soil but it is different this time round ... In Islamabad and elsewhere, the bazaars and shopping complexes are empty as customers stay away fearing a violent backlash. (India Times, India)
Day after, Mumbai limping to normalcy Nov 30, 2008
Islamabad has denied involvement in the mayhem whose victims included 22 foreigners. Over 300 people were also injured. (India Times, India)
Taleban's ex-spokesman killed Nov 29, 2008
Afghanistan's intelligence agents released a video in which Dr Hanif alleged Taleban leader Mullah Omar was living inside Pakistan - a claim denied by Islamabad. Separately more than 200 Taleban militants attacked an Afghan army convoy in the north-western province of Badghis late on Thursday, killing at least 13 Afghan soldiers and policemen. (BBC News)
Cricket faces uncertain future after terrorist attacks Nov 29, 2008
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan The attacks in India are the latest challenge to the future of international cricket in Asia. Pakistan, hit by a spate of bombings, will finish 2008 without playing a single cricket test. (Helena Independent Record, MT)
Militants in Mumbai 'wanted an Indian 9/11' Nov 29, 2008
MUMBAI: The gunmen who attacked Mumbai killing at least 155 people wanted to go down in history for an Indian 9/11, and were also inspired by the bombing of the Marriott hotel in Islamabad, media reports said ... He was referring to one of Pakistan's worst bomb attacks, when a lorry packed with explosives all but destroyed the hotel in Islamabad and killed at least 55 people in September. (India Times)
India's 9/11: Will this be its wake-up call? Nov 29, 2008
But India cannot forget that sections of the establishment in Islamabad remain outside the control of Pakistan's civilian leadership. As the suspected role of the notorious Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in the bombing of India's Kabul embassy last July showed, these elements are still not reconciled to the prospect of peace with India. (India Times)
Pak opposition slams Govt's plan to send ISI chief to India Nov 29, 2008
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani opposition parties today slammed the PPP-led government for its decision to send ISI chief to India to share the information on intelligence, saying that it amounted to "summoning" of the spy agency's head by the Indian Prime Minister. "The blame game is not the answer to such incidents and it appeared awkward that the ISI chief was going to India almost at the Indian Prime Minister's summoning," opposition PML-N spokesman Ahsan Iqbal said. (India Times)
Send ISI chief: PM Nov 29, 2008
The Indian side made it clear to Islamabad that good neighbourly rela-tions were not possible if outrages like Mumbai continued to happen. Pakistan should take immediate action with regard to the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. (India Times)
Pakistan-Based Terrorists Suspected in Attacks Nov 29, 2008
India has long accused Islamabad of allowing militant Muslim groups, particularly those fighting in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, to train and take shelter in Pakistan. However, with attention focusing on groups with links to Pakistan and the Kashmir region, Husain Haqqani, Pakistan's ambassador to the United States, issued a strong response. (Fox News)
Mumbai attacks inflame India-Pakistan tensions Nov 29, 2008
Latest Political Stories. Latest World Stories. (Anchorage Daily News)
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, currently in India on an official visit Nov 29, 2008
We will certainly address India concerns in a more understanding manner, he replied when asked if Islamabad would consider deporting Indian criminals taking refuge in Pakistan. Qureshi took a break from the press conference to receive a call from his Indian counterpart Mukherjee. (Daily Times, Pakistan)
* Commandos end Mumbai hotel siege Nov 29, 2008
India has long accused Islamabad of allowing militant Muslim groups, particularly those fighting in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, to train and take shelter in Pakistan ... Earlier yesterday, Pakistani Defense Minister Ahmed Mukhtar, in Islamabad, denied involvement by his country: I will say in very categoric terms that Pakistan is not involved in these gory incidents. (Taipei Times, Taiwan)
Mumbai attacks: Taj Mahal siege ends as total death toll rises to 195 Nov 29, 2008
The Prime Minister's office in Islamabad said today that a representative of its Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency would now go to India instead of its director general. http://www. (Telegraph.co.uk)
* MUMBAI ATTACKS: Attacks could chill Pakistani ties Nov 29, 2008
AGENCIES, ISLAMABAD Saturday, Nov 29, 2008, Page 5. The Mumbai attacks threaten to chill improving ties between the nuclear rivals India and Pakistan just as the West is trying to get Islamabad to focus on al-Qaeda and Taliban close to the Afghan border. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- World)
Indian forces fight last gunmen in Mumbai hotel Nov 29, 2008
Hoping to head off a crisis between the two nuclear-armed nations, officials in Islamabad agreed to send its spy chief, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shujaa Pasha, to India to help investigate the attacks. Christine Fair, a South Asia specialist at the RAND Corp., said the group behind the attack "is probably drawing from, in large numbers, Indian operatives, but it probably enjoys a fairly healthy support of Pakistan.". (Honolulu Advertiser)
Decision to send ISI chief to India draws flak Nov 29, 2008
ISLAMABAD: The decision by the Pakistan People s Party-led government to send the Director-General, Inter-Services Intelligence, to India has drawn flak from Opposition parties, which dubbed it as hasty and tantamount to an admission of guilt ... He said Dr. Singh had called him after the Marriott attack in Islamabad, and today I reciprocated. (Hindu)
Peace process will be hit: India Nov 29, 2008
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee called up visiting Pakistan Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi to ask Islamabad to honour its commitment not to permit the use of its territory for anti-India attacks. The Pakistan foreign minister was in the middle of a press conference when he got the phone call from Mukherjee. (Sify.com, India)
Battle for Mumbai ends, death toll rises to 195 Nov 29, 2008
A number of Indian officials suggested the militants were from the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba -- notorious for a deadly assault on the Indian parliament in 2001 that pushed New Delhi and Islamabad to the edge of war. Pakistani leaders insisted their government had nothing to do with the attacks and appealed to India not to get drawn into a dangerous "blame game.". (Yahoo News -- Top Stories)
Commandos mop up last of Mumbai militants Nov 29, 2008
But Islamabad backtracked from an earlier promise to send the chief of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), a move unlikely to calm Indian tempers and raise fresh questions about who is in charge of the shadowy agency ... (Reporting by New Delhi, Mumbai and Islamabad bureau; Writing by Simon Denyer; Editing by Alistair Scrutton and Valerie Lee). (Yahoo News -- Top Stories)
Do not bring politics into this issue. This is a collective issue. We are facing a common enemy and we should join hands to defeat the enemy." Nov 29, 2008
Salman Masood contributed reporting from Islamabad. . (International Herald Tribune)
Pakistan willing to be flexible on Kashmir: Shaukat Aziz Nov 29, 2008
Islamabad, March 17 Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has said Pakistan can be 'flexible' on the Kashmir issue and move from 'conflict management to conflict resolution' if other stakeholders reciprocate. Addressing the inaugural session of a two-day international Kashmir conference here Friday, he said that the ongoing peace process had generated goodwill and raised the level of expectations of the people on all sides. (Yahoo News -- Kashmir Dispute)
Al-Qaeda chemical expert 'killed' Nov 29, 2008
The BBC's Syed Shoaib Hasan in Islamabad says the militant was considered part of Osama Bin Laden's inner circle and was said to be in charge of efforts to gain access to, or develop, weapons of mass destruction. Local residents said the house targeted belonged to a local tribesman and suspected militants used to stay there. (Yahoo News -- Terrorism & 9/11)
