Bin Laden directing al-Qaeda figures
The wealth of information pulled from Osama bin Laden's compound has reinforced the belief that he played a strong role in planning and directing attacks by al-Qaeda and its affiliates in Yemen and Somalia, senior US officials said Friday.
And the data further demonstrates to the US that top al-Qaeda commanders and other key insurgents are scattered throughout Pakistan, not just in the rugged border areas, and are being supported and given sanctuary by Pakistanis, a senior defence official said.
US counterterrorism officials have debated how big a role bin Laden and core al-Qaeda leaders were playing in the attacks launched by affiliated terror groups, particularly al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which is based in Yemen, and al-Shabab in Somalia.
Information gathered in the compound, officials said, strengthened beliefs that bin Laden was a lot more involved in directing al-Qaeda personnel and operations than sometimes thought over the last decade. And it suggests bin Laden was "giving strategic direction" to al-Qaeda affiliates in Somalia and Yemen, the defence official said.
Laden's first priority, the official said, was his own security. But the data shows that he was far more active in providing guidance and telling affiliated groups in Yemen and Somalia what they should or should not be doing.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive material.
The American public, meanwhile, will get a peek at bin Laden's life inside the secret compound in Abbottabad today, according to US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because the data has not yet been released.
Officials say they have already learned a lot from bin Laden's cache of computers and data, but they would not confirm reports that it yielded clues to the whereabouts of al-Qaeda deputy Ayman al-Zawahri.
Officials say the handwritten notes and computer material are being scoured for intelligence that could help track down new targets.
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