Osama bin Laden's 12-year-old daughter watched as her father was shot dead by American special forces, a senior Pakistani intelligence official has told the Guardian.
The girl, who was found at the scene of the raid by Pakistani security services, is being cared for at a military hospital having been wounded in the attack. She has been questioned about the sequence of events during the raid on Sunday night.
The official said Pakistani intelligence services, who are holding 11 other survivors of the deadly raid on Bin Laden's Pakistani hiding place, would not allow their interrogation by US officials.
"That would occur only if there was written assent from their country of origin. We are yet to receive any request to my knowledge, but given the [critical] statements coming out of Washington and the fact that [the raid] was not an operation we were involved in, we would not accept," he said.
At least 10 people were left alive at the end of the attack, which saw Bin Laden killed in an upstairs room of the three-storey house where he had been living. Hamza, one of the
al-Qaida leader's sons, was killed. His body was removed with that of his father by the assault teams.
The survivors include eight children and two adults, both women. One is Bin Laden's fifth wife, a 29-year-old Yemeni, Amal Ahmed al-Sadah, who married the al-Qaida leader about 11 years ago in Afghanistan. The other is understood to be a Yemeni doctor in her 30s whose passport indicates that she arrived by legal means in the region between 2000 and 2006, when the document expired.
The Pakistani official, from the main intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI), said verification of the exact identity of the woman was continuing.
"We are not sure if she is a doctor, a nurse, a maid or what," he said.
The White House has so far not commented on the survivors or on reports that a second son of Bin Laden was captured during the raid.
Though mobile phones and computers seized in the compound are being examined by American specialists for any leads on forthcoming attacks or information on fugitives, the women and children in Pakistani custody are potential sources of valuable intelligence.
On Tuesday, the Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement saying that "the family members of Osama bin Laden [are] all in safe hands ... in the best possible facilities," and that "as per policy" the relatives would be handed over to their countries of origin.
This may not be easy. One problem is their unclear legal status. The Saudi Arabian citizenship of the al-Qaida leader was withdrawn in 1994 after his violent criticism of the kingdom's royal family, leaving the nationality of his children unclear. Two young sons of Bin Laden are believed to be among the survivors held by the Pakistanis.
It is also far from certain that either Yemen or Saudi Arabia would be willing to accept the repatriation of Bin Laden's family members or their friends. Nor is their identification a simple task. Some of the children found at the compound may be those of the two brothers killed in the raid, and may have Pakistani nationality. The youngest child found at the compound wais two.
Local authorities arrived at the scene of the raid as US special forces were leaving. It is believed that the attackers originally planned to evacuate all those in the compound but the breakdown of a helicopter meant there was no space to take them.
Instead, only the bodies of Bin Laden and his son Hamza, who was in his early 20s, were taken to the aircraft carrier the USS Carl Vinson and buried at sea. Survivors were left with their hands fastened with plastic handcuffs, a second Pakistani official said, adding that initial communication with the survivors had been difficult as the Pakistani police and military arriving at the scene did not speak Arabic.
Four bodies are understood to have been recovered by Pakistani officials from the compound, including those of the two brothers – who have been reported to be behind the construction and management of the house. One is believed to be the crucial courier, Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, who inadvertently led the CIA to Bin Laden. A third body was that of one of the brother's wives. The other casualty is believed to be a guard who has yet to be identified or possibly a domestic servant.
Several of the survivors, including Bin Laden's wife, were injured in the 40-minute firefight that preceded the al-Qaida leader's death.
The White House have confirmed that Bin Laden's wife received a bullet wound in the calf during the assault.
Pakistani officials said that Bin Laden's daughter, whom various reports named as Safina, Safia or Ayesha , had been hit in the ankle in the moments before the American assault team reached the room where they found her father, and later passed out. The wound was possibly caused by fragments from a grenade thrown by the assault team as they attacked, one said.
The girl and her mother are believed to be at a high-security military hospital.
American press reports cited a US official as saying that Fatah had told Pakistani authorities Bin Laden had lived in the complex, at least part of the time, since it was built in 2005. Yesterday, other reports from
Pakistan contradicted that statement, saying survivors had told officials they had arrived five or six months ago.
White House press secretary Jay Carney confirmed earlier this week that she was "in the room with Bin Laden" when injured.
John Brennan, President Barack Obama's chief counter-terrorism adviser, had initially claimed Fatah was killed while "she was being used as a shield", but the White House later said that account was inaccurate.
US intelligence officials have also said Fatah, rather than Bin Laden's daughter, identified the al-Qaida leader's body.
Jason Burke @
'The Guardian'
