Former CIA chief claims Israel helped US locate Osama Bin Laden

John Brennan says Israel provided bits of pieces of information to help US raid Bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad

Former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) chief John Brennan has claimed that Israel helped US track al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan, reported TRT World.

The al Qaeda leader was killed in his Abbottabad compound, in a joint US military-CIA operation in 2011.

In an interview with Haaretz, the former CIA chief claimed that Israel provided some assistance in locating Bin Laden. He said it took the US years of effort into preparing for the raid, "and the thousands of bits of pieces of intelligence do include some which were provided by the Israelis as a result of their intelligence operations," he stated.

On May 2, 2011, US Navy Seals flew in helicopters from Afghanistan, killing the al-Qaeda leader.

Bin Laden's compound had high walls and barbed wires. The lack of visitors and the absence of any cars made it suspicious, but no officials had questioned it.

Pakistan, at the time, arrested Shakil Afridi, a doctor whose fake immunisation drive helped the CIA track and kill Bin Laden.

Earlier, in 2019, Prime Minister Imran Khan said Pakistan's top spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) provided the US with a lead that helped them find and kill the al-Qaeda leader.

In an interview with Fox News, when asked whether Pakistan would release jailed doctor Shakil Afridi, the premier said; "This is a very emotive issue because Shakeel Afridi in Pakistan is considered a spy. We in Pakistan always felt that we were an ally of the US and if we had been given the information about Osama Bin Laden, we should have taken him out."