News / Asia

CIA Occupied Safe House in Abbottabad

Resident Adeel, 8, plays with a tennis ball in front of the compound where U.S. Navy SEAL commandos reportedly killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, May 5, 2011
Resident Adeel, 8, plays with a tennis ball in front of the compound where U.S. Navy SEAL commandos reportedly killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, May 5, 2011
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The CIA is reported to have maintained a safe house in Abbottabad for a small team of spies who conducted surveillance for months on the compound where Osama bin Laden was found.

The Washington Post, citing U.S. officials, said the CIA went to Congress last December to secure authority to reallocate tens of millions of dollars within assorted agency budgets to fund the safe house.

The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the house has since been shut down due to concerns about the safety of CIA assets in the aftermath of the raid and because the intelligence agency's work was considered finished.

President Obama has decided not to release the death photos of bin Laden, saying the graphic images would create a national security risk and could incite violence.

President Obama will meet Friday with members of the U.S. Navy SEALs team involved in the raid that killed al-Qaida leader in Pakistan.

The president will travel to Fort Campbell in Kentucky to personally thank the SEALs and other members of the U.S. military for their service, following the early Monday raid on bin Laden's compound in.

U.S. officials say an initial review of documents seized from the compound shows al-Qaida considered carrying out a terrorist plot against trains at an unspecified location in the U.S., on the 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

A Homeland Security Department document obtained Thursday by U.S. news organizations says al-Qaida thought about tampering with rail tracks so a train would fall from a bridge or into a valley.  U.S. officials say they have no evidence the plot was active.

On Thursday, President Obama laid a wreath at the site of the destroyed World Trade Center buildings in New York to pay tribute to the thousands killed in the September 11 attacks, carried out by al-Qaida.  Thousands of people lined the streets around Ground Zero, hoping to get a glimpse of Obama during his visit.

Raw video footage of Osama bin Laden compound in Abbottabad

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