Abbottabad commission: Findings contradict US version, says report
The findings of the investigative report by a commission probing the May 2 US raid which killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad are different from the report given by US authorities, according to a report by BBC Urdu.
The report states that the commission has penned down the details of events that took place on the day the al Qaeda leader was killed in a unilateral raid by US Special Forces.
The findings of the report by the commission also pose questions regarding the stance of the US in the operation. The report is the first official account of the incident from Pakistan’s side and is often in contradiction with the findings of the US investigation. It includes statements from Bin Laden’s family, neighbours and government officials who came to the area after the US raid.
The commission members and experts, after investigating the compound where Bin Laden lived, derived some crucial findings. One of the points in the report states that the compound had dozens of armed men during the raid – however, only one bullet mark and one bullet shell was found.
The bullet mark was found on the wall of the room where the al Qaeda leader used to sleep, which was also where he was killed. The height of the mark suggests that someone had knelt down and taken a shot, according to the findings.
The investigation revealed that the bullet pierced through Bin Laden’s head and struck the wall leaving a mark there, the report claimed. Other than this mark, there is no other bullet mark in the entire house, nor was there any other bullet shell.
Half a dozen Kalashnikovs recovered from the house were less than a yard away from Bin Laden’s gunmen. The report also poses questions including: when so many armed men were present in the house during the raid, why did Bin Laden’s men not fire even once — given that the findings revealed by the US state that none of the US soldiers were shot at during the raid.
The Abbottabad Commission will present the findings to the prime minister who will release orders as per the recommendations given in the report.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 16th, 2012.
COMMENTS (22)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
@Ch Allah Daad:
I disagree with you. Some of the commission members were retire army officers.
It is becoming clear from many of the comments that the Abbottabad scenario is becoming more of a fairy tale to many people, and therefore unbelievable, and we will not be given any believable answers. I am not saying that the Pakistan Commission will be fully believable, but I will believe them before the U.S. version. So far we have not been given a believable account of what happened at 9/11 in New York, we have not been given a believable account of what happened to Iraq's nuclear weapons, but which America used to justify killing a million people there, we have not been given a reasonable explanation of why the U.S./NATO alliance bombed Libya into the stone age, we have not been given a reasonable explanation as to why the U.S. is supplying the Syrian rebels with mercenaries and weaponry, we have not been given a reasonable reason why American is bombing large parts of Africa with drone aircraft, we have not been given a believable account of what happened when one soldier shot up a village in Kandahar, and killed many people, we have not been given a reasonable account of why America is bombing and killing innocent people in Pakistan? What I find the most annoying though is when people ask the question, "what is in it for America"? The simple answer is that I do not know, However, I could ask the question, why is America still confronting North Korea, why did America almost destroy Cambodia and Vietnam, why did America attack about twenty or so other countries over the last fifty years or so, why was Iraq bombed into the stone age, why is American confronting Iran, a country which has never attacked anyone in the last few hundred years? The answer again is that I do not know, and I do not know what is in it for America. The simple answer is that even America does not know, but I think a reasonable theory is that the American war machine is out of control, and nobody has the acumen or power to stop it. The bottom line is that we will never really know what happened to Osama Bin Laden, and was he really at Abbottabad? I do not know.
Same article as yesterday --- slow news day?
Those who doubt that Osama was killed in Abbotabad seem to miss one thing. The Al-Qaeda and their affiliates, TTO etc have never denied this. If Osama was already in US custody, as people seem to suggest, why did the AlQaeda and others never mention this and why did they begin talking of avenging his death just at that time? If he was captured and killed elsewhere in Pakistan, what advantage does the US and Pakistan gain from claiming he was killed in Abbotabad, a kilometer from Kakul? If there was no firefight there what were all those people hearing in the neighborhood who have mentioned firings and explosions from the site? Why is dr. Afridi being held by Pakistan, who conducted blood samples from the family of OBL, if there was no Osama at the compound, to begin with? No, I dont think these conspiracy theories amount to much. Who knows how many bullet casings were removed and how many bullet marks were plastered over? It took less than an hour to wash away all evidence from BB's assassination scene. This place was at the disposal of our dear ISI for many weeks before the Commission ever set foot in out. What could have been done in this time is anybody's guess.
Who care how many bullets were used? The main questions everybody was hoping will be answered were: 1. How did Osama live for 6 years within a stone's throw of a military cantonment without being noticed? 2. What was the military doing when the Americans sent their choppers in for a total duration of over 4 hours without having a clue?
Unless the reality comes out, the investigations will remains as fiction. Ambiguity has been created intentially by US and will prevail untill NATO pull out from Afg. Lets not betray our thoughts to their will and wish.
his family yes, OBL himself hmmm dont think so sir. first buried at sea, now dont know the location of his dead body, its all fishy and ify.
Osama capture and killing along with 9/11 attacks are one of the biggest enigma in the modren day history. US think tank can do better then this .
Even the head of the Commission let it slip out that "Ascertaining Osama's presence there needs to be !!!!!?" . Why was this canard allowed and who benefited.
And the team who killed bin laden were ACCIDENTALLY killed in a chopper crash :)
Whether you believe he died or not in Abbottabad one thing is clear.. he is history... he has been killed. We are now licking the wounds and trying to find someone to blame. Reality is we held him in a safe house and we were accomplice with him. Pakistani commissions credibility is as much as its governments. A government that has been lying to its people since the creation of the country and which was not present and doing a post mortem of event somehow has better info than people who watched it live. keep beating the conspiracy theory.. "People who hack conspiracy theory are most likely to conspire" and this is so true for Pakistan.
Who cares when, where and how OBL was killed.
Can't even go one week without making fools of yourselves.
For all the nay sayers and doubters, who are those family members then? They too involved with the US to hoodwink the hapless Pakistani people?!
@Ahmed If there were such glaring differences in the accounts then why was the house brought down? Is it in search of other bullets? Like as you say "Basically one fine day Americans killed Bin Laden by firing a single bullet and then buried him at sea but they have no evidence for any of it" same way there is no evidence of there being a single bullet hole on the House.
Brutal clowns and internation terrorists actualy.
Operation to kill OBL was a military action and Commission had no expertise or Military background. Commission visited the site months after operation and during this period hundreds of people had already searched the place and Commission expect to see evidence intact.
Basically one fine day Americans killed Bin Laden by firing a single bullet and then buried him at sea but they have no evidence for any of it. Anyone who ask for evidence and questions this fairy tale is a conspiracy theorist.
Seriously, these are the same people who claimed Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. Turned out they were chicken farms. Clowns