Latest on the Osama Raid: Tricked-Out Choppers, Live Tweets, Possible Pakistani Casualties

[n2doc]

By David Axe and Noah Shachtman


No U.S. operatives were hurt or killed in the dramatic, early-morning raid that killed al-Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden in his northern Pakistan hideout. At least, none that we know about here at 1:50 in the morning, eastern time. But there may have been casualties among the Americans’ allies, according to fragmentary press reports in the hours after the attack. That would mean U.S. troops had some friends along during the raid, despite some sources insisting it was an Americans-only show.

Let’s be clear: in these heady hours, information is flying in all directions, and a lot of it is bound to be wrong. But several early reports, if true, offer a very murky window into possible direct Pakistani assistance in the killing of Bin Laden. The reports also underscore the scale and ferocity of the raid — and into the aerial weaponry the Americans used to pull off arguably the most important military operation of the decade.

Under the cover of darkness, two or three helicopters infiltrated U.S. operators — maybe Special Operations Forces, maybe CIA agents, maybe both. They were brought into the vicinity of a compound where Bin Laden was thought to be hiding, near the city of Abbottabad around 35 miles from the Pakistani capital.

“The physical security measures of the compound are extraordinary. It has 12- to 18-foot walls topped with barbed wire. Internal wall sections — internal walls sectioned off different portions of the compound to provide extra privacy. Access to the compound is restricted by two security gates,” a senior administration official told reporters tonight. “The main structure, a three-story building, has few windows facing the outside of the compound. A terrace on the third floor has a seven-foot wall privacy — has a seven-foot privacy wall.”


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http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/05/latest-on-the-osama-raid-tricked-out-choppers-live-tweets-possible-pakistani-casualties/