Obama visits New York after Bin Laden death

• Pakistan claims US raid breached UN rules on sovereignty • Archbishop of Canterbury ‘uncomfortable’ about killing • Obama due to visit ground zero and lay a wreath there 5.34pm: Barack Obama has now arrived at the First Precinct police station to speak to police and Port Authority officers. 5.25pm: CNN has just screened footage of Obama’s speech to the firefighters. Here’s what he said: We can’t bring back the friends we lost … What happened on Sunday because of the courage of our military and the outstanding work of our intelligence sent a message around the world but also sent a message here back home. Our commitment to making sure justice was done was something that transcended politics, and transcended party; it didn’t matter which administration was in or who was in charge; we were going to make sure the perpetrators of that horrible act, that they receive justice. So it’s some comfort to you I hope that when those guys took those extraordinary risks going into Pakistan that they were doing it … in the name of your brothers that were lost. And finally let me just say although 9/11 was the high watermark of courage for the New York Fire Department and symbol of the sacrifice you guys are making sacrifice every sing day. It doesn’t get as much notoriety, it doesn’t get as much attention, but every time you run into a burning building, you’re saving lives, and that’s part of what makes this city great and part of what makes this country great I want to think you on behalf of the American people … You’re always going to have a president and an administration who’s got your back, the way you’ve got the backs of the people of New York. God bless you and God bless the United States of America. 5.12pm: Barack Obama’s motorcade is just pulling away from the fire station after 45 minutes in there. More remarks from the president (left), courtesy of the Associated Press news agency. Obama said of the Manhattan fire station he visited This is a symbolic site of the extraordinary sacrifice that was made on that terrible day. He said of Bin Laden’s death: What happened on Sunday because of the courage of our military and the outstanding work of our intelligence sent a message around the world but also sent a message here back home. He did not mention Bin Laden by name. 5.08pm: The fire station Barack Obama is visiting lost 15 men in the 9/11 attacks. Engine 54, Ladder 4, Battalion 9 is in the theatre district in Midtown Manhattan. The fire station contains a memorial for the deceased firefighters that includes messages from their families. 5.06pm: According to the New York Times , Obama told firefighters: You’re always going to have a president and an administration who’s got your back. 5.04pm: CNN is reporting that Rudy Giuliani is still with Obama as he meets firefighters. Meanwhile, George Bush will return to ground zero for the 10th anniversary of the attacks in September. 4.56pm: Barack Obama is eating lunch with firefighters in Manhattan now, CNN is reporting. 4.49pm: Over at Comment is free, Paul Harris argues that the White House is damaging itself by changing its story over Bin Laden’s death. Would it have been so hard to exercise some discipline on staff and tell a breathless world: “We are building up a full picture of what happened. When we have a verified version of events in the next 48 hours, we will release it in full.” And then do exactly that. Instead, Obama administration officials, who held their nerve for months while hunting Bin Laden, apparently panicked when bombarded with phone calls from a fact-starved global media. 4.41pm: The Associated Press just filed the first remarks from Barack Obama in New York today: “When we say we will never forget, we mean what we say.” 4.38pm: Andy Sullivan, a construction worker who was there on 9/11, was asked on Sky News how he felt about George Bush’s decision not join Barack Obama at ground zero today. Sullivan said: I’m kind of disappointed about that. It was everything that George Bush put together .. that helped us get Bin Laden. And I’m a bit disappointed in Obama about that; he hasn’t mentioned that. 4.34pm: The New York Times has started its own live blog on Obama’s visit to ground zero . It says Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, told the press “there were no new updates on the morphing account of Sunday’s raid on Bin Laden’s compound”. He said he had no information on whether 9/11 families who wanted to see the photo of Bin Laden dead would be able to, and added that he was not aware of anyone bringing such a photo to New York. Obama’s helicopter has landed in Manhattan not far from ground zero, and was greeted by Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York. 4.29pm: India Today has more on the idea that Osama bin Laden’s deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri betrayed him ( see 1.30pm ) as the two were “involved in an intense power struggle”. The source is again the Saudi al-Watan newspaper. The two top al-Qaeda men had differences and the courier who led US forces to Bin Laden was working and had more loyalties for Zawahiri, al-Watan newspaper reported quoting Arab sources. “The Egyptian faction of Al Qaeda led by Zawahiri was defacto running the militant group; after Bin Laden was taken ill in 2004 and they were trying to take full control,” the paper said … The paper claimed it was Zawahiri’s faction which had persuaded Osama to leave tribal areas close to Afghanistan-Pakistan border to take shelter instead in Abbottabad, where he was finally killed by US Seals on Monday. 4.20pm: My colleague Richard Adams in Washington, who is going to take over this blog to cover Barack Obama’s visit to ground zero in an hour or so, has just sent me the schedule for Obama’s trip: • 6.25pm BST / 1.25pm ET: Obama will lay a wreath at the National September 11 Memorial. • 6.45pm BST / 1.45pm ET: Afterwards, he will meet 9/11 family members at the 9/11 Memorial Preview Site. He will also meet rescue workers. • 8.10pm BST / 3.10pm ET: Obama will leave New York for Washington. 4.15pm: Sky News is reporting that the US has two of Bin Laden’s weapons – an AK47 and a Makarov pistol . According to the US, they were at the entrance to the room when the Navy Seals entered, and so was Bin Laden. 4.08pm: Bruce Wallace , whose nephew Mitch was killed on 9/11, was just interviewed on Sky News in New York. Asked about whether Barack Obama should publish the pictures of Osama bin Laden’s body, he said: Osama bin Laden is free to step up and prove he’s alive – and I know that won’t happen. He said New York had become “a city divided, with many people allowing prejudice to rise up … speaking of Muslims as terrorists. This is something we now have a chance to confront. Calling Osama bin Laden is like naming Timothy McVeigh [the Oklahoma City bomber] as a Christian.” 3.59pm: Some interesting polling from YouGov/the Sun. The poll shows 54% of Britons think a shoot-to-kill policy against Bin Laden was right – but 37% oppose this and think the al-Qaida leader should have been taken alive. In addition three times as many Britons (31%) think the killing has made the world more dangerous. Ten per cent said it had made the world safer, and 52% said it would make no difference. Barack Obama has now arrived in New York. 3.53pm: More evidence of the increasing strain on the US-Pakistan relationship comes from a Reuters report , which quotes a Pakistani security official as saying Bin Laden was killed in “cold-blood”, rejecting the official US version of events. 3.45pm: Sohaib Athar, the IT consultant living in Abbottabad, who inadvertently live-tweeted the fatal raid on Bin Laden’s compound , has uploaded a video of the burning compound he says was shot by a neighbour: _ 3.35pm: Some very significant news just dropping from the Associated Press news agency: Pakistan’s army says US military personnel in the country will be reduced to the “minimum essential” levels. No further details were given, AP says. This comes after both sides earlier today, through Pakistani foreign secretary Salman Bashir and US secretary of state Hillary Clinton insisted they were still friends and allies despite fallout over the killing of Bin Laden in Abbottabad. 3.23pm: This is not the first time Iran has cast doubt on the pronouncements of the country some of its leaders refer to as “the Great Satan”, but the Tehran regime has cast doubt on the US claim to have killed Bin Laden, reports Pajamas Media . The Iranian defence minister, Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi, said: Bin Laden’s death report is suspicious in essence, since they claim that they have discharged his body in the sea. We should ask why they have not allowed an impartial party to observe this process. 3.19pm: As mentioned earlier, George Bush (left) declined to join Barack Obama at ground zero today ( see 1.46pm ). Should he have? Comment is free wants your opinion here . 3.15pm: While the Pakistani army has launched an investigation into intelligence failures relating to Bin Laden’s presence in Abbottabad ( see 2.57pm ), it has also threatened to withhold cooperation with the US if it conducts similar raids to that which killed the al-Qaida leader on its soil. In a statement it said: COAS [chief of army staff General Ashfaq Kayani] made it clear that any similar action violating the sovereignty of Pakistan will warrant a review on the level of military/intelligence cooperation with the United States. On the subject of Kayani, the Pulitzer prize-winning reporter Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times tweets : I’d be surprised if Gen. Kayani or Gen. Pasha of Pakistan knew Osama’s whereabouts. I’d also be surprised if no mil officer knew. 2.59pm: In comments likely to prompt further scrutiny of the operation that killed Bin Laden, a senior US defence official has told the Associated Press news agency that only one of the five people killed in the raid in Abbottabad was armed and ever fired a shot: The official says that shooter was killed in the early minutes of the commando assault, an account that differs greatly from original reports that portrayed a chaotic, prolonged firefight amid stiff resistance. The official spoke Thursday on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the record. The new details emerge after officials have had time to debrief the Navy Seals who pulled off the raid in Pakistan. He said the operation was a precision, floor-by-floor mission through Bin Laden’s compound where all of the others encountered were not carrying weapons and were quickly eliminated. 2.57pm: Just breaking on Reuters: the Pakistani army has ordered an investigation into intelligence lapses concerning the presence of Bin Laden in Abbottabad. 2.55pm: Sultan Al Qassemi, a commentator on Arab affairs, has written a powerful article on arabianbusiness.com arguing that the Arab spring illustrates the irrelevance of Bin Laden to most people in the Middle East: Rachid Ghannouchi, leader of the Tunisian Ennahda Islamic party proclaimed on al-Jazeera: “Osama died in Tunisia before dying in Pakistan.” Education, the empowerment of women, tourism, commerce and democracy are driving these nations forward in an unstoppable manner. This is not the world that Osama was born into, and it is certainly not the world he sought to leave behind. Arabs, like any other people, want freedom from subversion under any guise. In conservative and heavily armed Yemen, Osama’s father’s own land of birth, men and women stand today in tandem on the streets calling peacefully for democracy. For all the men he blinded, the children he orphaned, the wives he widowed and the homes he wrecked – he had it coming. 2.54pm: At Andrews air force base in Maryland, Barack Obama has just boarded Air Force One to fly to New York (above). 2.33pm: The Associated Press news agency has details of Hillary Clinton’s press conference in Rome today, during which the US secretary of state talked at length about the death of Bin Laden. Clinton (left) said she had “no idea” what she and the rest of Barack Obama’s national security team were watching at the precise moment the now-famous photo of them monitoring the operation against Bin Laden was taken ( you can see the photo at 11.52am ). Clinton said: Those were 38 of the most intense minutes. I have no idea what any of us were looking at at that particular millisecond when the picture was taken. As the AP reports, the photo was taken by the White House photographer on Sunday night. Clinton is covering her mouth with her right hand, but she said today that that gesture might not convey any special significance. I am somewhat sheepishly concerned that it was my preventing one of my early spring allergic coughs. So, it may have no great meaning whatsoever. Clinton said that Bin Laden’s death “sent an unmistakable message about the strength and the resolve of the international community to stand against extremism and those who perpetuate it”. I think our resolve is even stronger after Bin Laden’s death because we know it will have an impact on those who are on the battlefield in Afghanistan. She and other officials have expressed hope that al-Qaida sympathisers and other militants may now be more inclined to give up violence and rejoin Afghan society. Clinton also said US plans to begin drawing down American forces in Afghanistan in July would continue, but she said the battle against terrorism was far from over. Let us not forget that the battle to stop al-Qaida and its affiliates does not end with one death. We have to renew our resolve and redouble our efforts, not only in Afghanistan and Pakistan but around the world. It is especially important that there be no doubt that those who pursue a terrorist agenda, the criminals who indiscriminately murder innocent people, will be brought to justice. On Pakistan, where Bin Laden was found, she said: “It is not always an easy relationship. But on the other hand, it is a productive one for both of our countries and we are going to continue to cooperate between our governments, our militaries, our law enforcement agencies.” 1.58pm: Mohammed Hanif, the Pakistani writer and journalist and former head of the BBC’s Urdu service, has just tweeted this from a Pakistani army briefing on Bin Laden: _ 1.46pm: The New York Times has more details of Barack Obama’s planned visit to ground zero in New York this afternoon. This is Obama’s first visit as president to the spot where the twin towers of the World Trade Center stood until the 9/11 attacks (left). He will lay a wreath to the nearly 3,000 victims of al-Qaida’s biggest terrorist attack and meet in private family members of victims, firefighters and other rescue workers who died, the paper says. The NYT quotes Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, as saying, in a reference to the death of Bin Laden: He wants to meet with them and share with them this important and significant moment, a bittersweet moment. But he will not deliver a speech, for fear of being seen to exploit the victims and their families for political gain. The paper also says that Obama invited George Bush to join him at ground zero, “but Mr Bush declined”. A spokesman for the former president said he appreciated the invitation but wanted to stick to his policy of staying out of the public spotlight since he left office … The White House was quick to say it took no offence at Mr Bush’s decision not to attend, saying that Mr Bush was invited in the spirit of unity that Mr Obama said he hoped would prevail in the wake of Bin Laden’s killing, just as it prevailed after the killings perpetrated by Bin Laden nearly a decade ago. _ 1.37pm: Michele Bachmann, a Republican member of the House of Representatives and possible presidential candidate for next year, is on Sky News. She said she had been worried that releasing photos of Bin Laden’s body could endanger American troops, but she suggests the government release the full DNA evidence that this was indeed Bin Laden. 1.30pm: A fascinating – if unlikely – claim has been published in the Saudi newspaper al-Watan (link in Arabic ), which reports, citing a source, that Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaida’s second-in-command and possible successor to Bin Laden as leader, led the US to Bin Laden because Zawahiri wants Egyptians (he is one himself) to control the group. This is a rough and ready translation of part of the article obtained through Google Translate: The source said that “the Egyptians have wanted to control the organisation since its inception, but found best chance came after Bin Laden became ill in mid-2004,” adding that al-Zawahiri and the leadership group … convinced Bin Laden at that time to move to the city of Abbotabad to safe shelter. 1.16pm: As attempts to dig out information about the mission – and the team – that killed Bin Laden continue, another key player has been identified. My colleague Peter Walker writes : There has already been a good deal of slightly fevered speculation about the training and tactics of the 79 elite US Navy Seals who raided Osama bin Laden’s hideout. Now this has extended to the less-heralded final member of their team: a military dog. According to a series of reports, the so far unidentified canine was lowered into the compound from a helicopter while strapped to a human member of the team. It was most likely needed to check for hidden explosives, or perhaps to seek Bin Laden if the house contained a secret hiding place. While the dog’s presence emerged immediately after the assault, some new details have emerged. The courageous canine was most likely a German shepherd or the similar-looking Belgian Malinois, the New York Times said, quoting unnamed military sources. 1.07pm: An Indonesian terror suspect, wanted for involvement in the 2002 Bali bombings and arrested in Abbottabad earlier this year, was intending to meet Bin Laden there, Indonesian officals say. The Associated Press says the information raises “questions over how isolated Bin Laden was in his final months”. Niniek Karmini writes that a senior American counterterrorism official said Umar Patek’s arrest in Abbottabad “appears to have been pure coincidence” and they did not meet but adds: “The information we have is that Umar Patek … was in Pakistan with his Filipino wife trying to meet Bin Laden,” Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro told reporters Wednesday. Chairul Akbar, an official at Indonesia’s Anti-Terrorism Agency, earlier told the Associated Press that Patek and his wife traveled to Pakistan using false names — Anis Alawi Jaafar and Fatima Zahra — on 30 August, 2010, aiming to meet Bin Laden to get his “support and protection.” “He was instructed to go to Abbottabad to meet other militants,” Akbar said. Akbar said it was possible that Patek met al-Qaida leaders in January somewhere in Pakistan but that he did not meet with Bin Laden himself. Many intelligence officials had assumed Bin Laden was living in the remote Afghan border region, possibly in a cave, meeting only with a small trusted circle. While it’s possible that Patek may have been misguided if he thought he could meet Bin Laden, the fact he ended up in the same town as him with that intention is striking, and could suggest someone told him Bin Laden was there and was prepared to see him. 12.48pm: Although, the White House has said it will not release photos of Bin Laden’s dead body, they could leak out through other parts of government, the Atlantic suggests . Jared Keller points out that Senator Scott Brown, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, claimed in an interview with Fox News that he’d seen the much-discussed photograph of bin Laden’s face before saying later he’d been fooled by a fake doing the rounds. Other members of the committee claim to have seen or that they will soon be in a position to see the photos, according to Fox News. Keller writes: If all members of the committee had access to the photo, that would mean that, along with Brown, committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.), Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.), and other members of the Armed Service Committee would see it as well. As of now, the question of who has seen the photo draws somewhat vague replies. “It’s conceivable” that members of the committee have seen the photos, says Bryan Thomas, a spokesman for Levin, “but I don’t know it to be true.” … With President Obama’s decision to abstain from releasing the bin Laden death photos to the public, it’s possible that circulation — or even exhibition, as at a briefing — of such material inside the chambers of Congress may eventually lead to their eventual distribution to media outlets and organizations like Wikileaks. Certainly, providing them to the legislative body that oversees the military affairs of the executive branch is both prudent and necessary, but should photographic proof of bin Laden’s death trickle down through the government, the files, as our Technology Channel is fond of noting, will get out. 12.25pm: The Dalai Lama has clarified his comments on the killing of Bin Laden ( see 11.12am ) in a post on his official website . It says he was asked, with reference to the al-Qaida leader, whether ensuring justice is more important than being compassionate to the perpetrator of a crime: His Holiness emphasised the need to find a distinction between the action and the actor. He said in the case of Bin Laden, his action was of course destructive and the September 11 events killed thousands of people. So his action must be brought to justice, His Holiness said. But with the actor we must have compassion and a sense of concern, he added. His Holiness said therefore the counter-measure, no matter what form it takes, has to be compassionate action. His Holiness referred to the basis of the practice of forgiveness saying that it, however, did not mean that one should forget what has been done. 12.16pm: Barack Obama will be in New York later today (around 4.45pm BST / 11.45am ET) to visit ground zero and lay a wreath there. He was interviewed by the CBS news programme 60 Minutes and was asked about his decision not to publish pictures of Bin Laden’s body. Obama said: We are absolutely certain this was him. We’ve done DNA sampling and testing. There’s no doubt we killed Osama bin Laden. It’s important for us to make sure very graphic photos of somebody who was shot in the head are not floating around as an incitement to additional violence or as a propaganda tool. That’s not who we are. Obama was also asked what his reaction was when he saw the photos of Bin Laden’s body. He said simply: It was him. Charles Wolfe, whose wife Catherine was killed on 9/11, will meet the president in New York later today. He told Sky News: I’m looking forward to meeting the president, looking him in the eye and saying thank you. 12.13pm: Our religious affairs correspondent, Riazat Butt, was at the press conference at Lambeth Palace, where the Archbishop of Canterbury (left) was asked about the killing of Bin Laden. This is what Rowan Williams said: The killing of an unarmed man is always going to leave a very uncomfortable feeling. It doesn’t look as if justice is seen to be done. I think it’s also true that different versions of events have not done a great deal to help. I don’t know the full detail any more than anyone else. In such circumstances, when we are faced with someone who was manifestly a war criminal, it’s important that justice is seen to be done. 12.02pm: The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, said the killing of Osama bin Laden while he was not armed leaves “a very uncomfortable feeling”. We’ll have more on that shortly. 11.52am: Some more details have been revealed about the team involved in the assault on the Abbottabad compound. The man who commanded the special forces mission was a former journalist student, the Huffington Post reports : William H McRaven, a San Antonio native, commanded the special forces operation that eventually killed Osama bin Laden. “I was fascinated that somebody with a journalism degree had gone to special forces and been a Seal,” Bobby Inman, a professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, told the Daily Texan. “He has demonstrated that he is truly a distinguished graduate of the university.” Presumably he doesn’t believe in the old adage that the pen is mightier than the sword. The Daily Beast has an article on the “mystery woman” shown in the now-famous picture (see below) of Obama, Clinton and others in the situation room, watching the operation in Pakistan unfold. It says very little is known about Audrey Tomason, who is described as director for counterterrorism in the White House-provided caption for the photo. Daniel Stone writes: The presence of Tomason is notable for a few reasons. Next to secretary of state Hillary Clinton, she’s the only other woman pictured in the testosterone-filled room. And she appears to be the only person under 40. But what matters most is that she is standing just a few feet from the president, who is otherwise surrounded by his closest advisers, as they watch one of the country’s highest-stakes operations in decades as it occurs in real time … The image shows a white-knuckle moment: a resolute and stone-faced President Obama and a level of organisation and discipline among his team. But could it have outed a sensitive national security employee? “You can make a reasonable deduction that she’s a member of the intelligence community,” says Michael Barrett, a national security expert and principal at strategy firm Diligent Innovations. “Is that a story [the White House] wants to put out there in public? The fact that we can see her face could potentially jeopardise her career.” 11.12am: As discussion over the circumstances of Bin Laden’s killing and whether he could have been taken alive continue, an unlikely figure appears to have suggested his death was justified. The Dalai Lama may avoid swatting mosquitoes, such is his desire to avoid destroying living creatures, but in answer to a question about the killing of the al-Qaida leader, the leader of Tibetan Buddhism said : Forgiveness doesn’t mean forget what happened … If something is serious and it is necessary to take counter-measures, you have to take counter-measures. 10.43am: Bashir says the media critique of the ISI is “unwarranted” and “cannot be validated by one solid argument”. Moving on from allegations of the ISI’s complicity with terrorists to accusations of intelligence failures he says if this was an intelligence failure “it was a global intelligence failure”: The ISI has done invaluable work, it has a brilliant track record in combating terror. Despite his strong words for the US, Bashir says the perception of the relationship between the US and Pakistan being at its lowest point is “not quite true”. The US is “an important friend” to Pakistan, says the Pakistani foreign secretary. Bashir has concluded the press conference. 10.36am: The Pakistani foreign secretary is also responding to the questions raised about Bin Laden living with apparent impunity in Abbottabad. He says Abbottabad is a “sprawling city” and Bin Laden’s house was 4km from the military academy, which he emphasises is a training facility. This is all intended to illustrate that Pakistan was not complicit or negligent in allowing Bin Laden to live in one of its cities. Bashir says: It’s easy to say that the Inter-Services Intelligence or elements within the government were in cahoots with al-Qaida. This is a false hypothesis, this is a false charge. It cannot be validated in any way. Bashir says the ISI has done more than any other agency – including the CIA – in combating al-Qaida. To infer that elements of the ISI or the government were actually providing cover to Osama bin Laden is absolutely wrong. Bashir says the information that led to the operation emerged from cooperation between the ISI and the CIA. He points out that Abu Faraj al-Libi, who is believed to have given the US crucial information on Bin Laden’s courier that led them to Abbottabad, was arrested in Mardan, which is near Peshawar in Pakistan. 10.26am: The Pakistani foreign secretary, Salman Bashir, is giving a press conference in Islamabad at which he is ratcheting up the tension with the US by condemning its breach of Pakistani sovereignty. He says Pakistan was not consulted over the covert operation to kill Bin Laden. Bashir says Pakistan is determined to “uphold our sovereignty and safeguard our security”. “There are legal questions that arise in terms of the UN charter,” he says. He quotes a UN resolution on sovereignty, implying that the US has breached UN resolutions. Bashir says the US is a “friend and important partner” but adds “any other country that would ever act on the assumption that it has the might, and mimic unilateralism of any sorts, will find, at least as far as Pakistan is concerned, that it has made a basic miscalculation”. 10.06am: The Yemen Times has an interesting interview with a leading member of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, talking about the future of the group in the aftermath of Bin Laden’s death. It’s particularly timely, given that two mid-level al-Qaida leaders have been killed in the country today . Rashad Mohammad Ismail, known widely as Abu Al-Fida, said he “cannot tell whether it is [the death of Bin Laden] true or not”. He also said This will not, if proven true, have a significant impact on them, as his influence was symbolic only. We are happy that he was martyred for the cause of Jihad and Islam. He has always longed for martyrdom. However, this will not harm al-Qaida or its followers. It will mark a new chapter in our war against America and its allies … I do not think that this will have a great effect on al-Qaida because it is a decentralised organisation. I speak here about both its financial and management aspects. Additionally, central control over al-Qaida’s different branches is kept to a minimum. This has been the case since 2001 … Al-Qaida has experienced numerous tragic losses before and it was always able to overcome such challenges. Such losses do not weaken us, rather they make us more powerful and also make the organisation gain more momentum. 9.46am: The Guardian’s Afghanistan correspondent Jon Boone has been at an anti-Taliban rally in Kabul, called the day after Bin Laden was killed. There are fears that having got the al-Qaida leader Obama may look for a swift exit from Afghanistan for US troops. Jon writes: I’m just leaving a huge anti-Taliban and anti-talks rally in Kabul. Easily about 10,000 people were addressed by Amrullah Saleh whose speech was continually interrupted by chants of “death to the Punjabis and death to the Taliban”. A reminder that for all the interest in a political solution in the west there is a well organised anti-Taliban constituency that could help spark a civil war if they feel they lose out in any deal. It was called by organisers the day after OBL was killed and showed an impressive degree of organisation by Saleh who is emerging as a major political figure opposing Karzai and the reconciliation agenda. 9.31am: While US officials have failed in briefings to expand on the “resistance” offered by Bin Laden that prompted the US Navy Seals to shoot him dead, they have been leaking out information, although the veracity of it might be questioned: Officials speaking anonymously told the Associated Press that Bin Laden appeared to have been lunging for a weapon in a room that contained his trademark AK-47 assault rifle and side arms. Still, to some in government and intelligence circles, the operation bore the hallmarks of a pure kill mission despite statements from officials that Bin Laden would have been taken alive if he had surrendered. AP also has a fuller account of the details of the raid based on accounts from CIA director Leon Panetta, White House spokesman Jay Carney and Obama’s counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan: The raiders trying to get into the house breached three or four walls, Panetta said, not specifying whether they scaled them or blew holes. On the first floor, the Seals killed the courier and his brother, and the courier’s wife died in crossfire. They shot open some doors. They then swept upstairs and burst into a third floor room, entering one at a time, said Carney. Bin Laden’s wife charged at the Seals, crying her husband’s name at one point. They shot her in the calf. Officials told AP that one Seal grabbed a woman, fearing she might be wearing a suicide vest, and pulled her away from his team. Whether that was Bin Laden’s wife has not been confirmed. Also in the room were Bin Laden and a son. The first bullet struck Bin Laden in the chest. The second struck above his left eye, blowing away part of his skull. It is not confirmed whether the shots came from one commando, two or in a spray of gunfire. The son was shot dead in that room, too. 9.16am: Two mid-level al-Qaida leaders have been killed in Yemen today in a remote province where the terrorist group is active, the news service of the Yemeni defence ministry said, according to the Associated Press news agency: The defence ministry identified the men as two brothers, Musa’id and Abdullah Mubarak, and said they were killed in Shabwa. Some residents said they saw a drone in the air while others reported an explosion following what they thought was a rocket in the air. Is this a mere coincidence or the first dividend of the computer files and paper documents seized from Bin Laden’s house in Abbotabad? 9.07am: Good morning. Welcome to our continuing live coverage of the aftermath of the killing of Osama bin Laden. More details are continuing to emerge of the raid on the house in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where Bin Laden was sheltering. From the New York Times : The new details suggested that the raid, though chaotic and bloody, was extremely one-sided, with a force of more than 20 Navy Seal members quickly dispatching the handful of men protecting Bin Laden. Administration officials said that the only shots fired by those in the compound came at the beginning of the operation, when Bin Laden’s trusted courier, Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, opened fire from behind the door of the guesthouse adjacent to the house where Bin Laden was hiding. After the Seal members shot and killed Mr. Kuwaiti and a woman in the guesthouse, the Americans were never fired upon again. The Times notes that this account differs from an official version of events issued by the Pentagon on Tuesday which said the Seal members “were engaged in a firefight throughout the operation”. The paper adds more detail: When the commandos moved into the main house, they saw the courier’s brother, who they believed was preparing to fire a weapon. They shot and killed him. Then, as they made their way up the stairs of the house, officials said they killed Bin Laden’s son Khalid as he lunged toward the Seal team. When the commandos reached the top floor, they entered a room and saw Osama bin Laden with an AK-47 and a Makarov pistol in arm’s reach. They shot and killed him, as well as wounding a woman with him. Osama bin Laden al-Qaida Barack Obama US foreign policy United States Afghanistan Pakistan Global terrorism Obama administration Haroon Siddique Paul Owen guardian.co.uk

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