5 May 2011

Pakistan sensitive about US mistrust

6:00 pm on 5 May 2011

Pakistan has rejected suggestions that the United States could not trust it with sensitive information about the mission against Osama bin Laden.

Central Intelligence Agency director Leon Panetta said on Tuesday the Pakistanis could have jeopardised the mission by alerting the target.

Pakistan Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir says Mr Panetta is entitled to his views, but his country extended every cooperation to the US in the hunt for bin Laden.

He said the compound in Abbottabad where bin Laden was shot dead by US special forces on Sunday had been identified as suspicious some time ago by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence.

Meanwhile, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani says spy agencies around the world of share the blame for his country's failure to track down bin Laden.

Bin Laden, 54, was the founder and leader of al-Qaeda. The compound where he was killed is about 1km from the Pakistan Military Academy.