Intelligence failure of the whole world: Gilani

ABBOTTABAD: Pakistan said on Wednesday the world must share the blame for failing to unearth Osama bin Laden as a furore swelled over how the slain Al Qaeda kingpin had managed to live undisturbed in the garrison town of Abbottabad, less than two hours' drive north of Islamabad. "There is intelligence failure of the whole world, not Pakistan alone," Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told reporters during a visit to Paris. Pakistan needed "the support of the entire world" to eradicate terrorism, he added. "We are fighting and paying a heavy price to combat terrorism and extremism… fighting not only for Pakistan but for the peace, prosperity and progress of the whole world." Pakistani intelligence officials said agents raided the Bin Laden compound in 2003 when it was still being built, looking for then Al Qaeda number three Abu Faraj al-Libbi, who escaped and was eventually captured two years later. They said the Inter-Services Intelligence agency had no idea Bin Laden was later holed up in the same compound. But Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir told the BBC on Wednesday that the ISI had in fact alerted the United States to its suspicions about the imposing compound "as far back as 2009". But it was not known at the time that Bin Laden was sheltering there and there were 'millions' of other suspect locations, he said. Mr Bashir hit out at 'disquieting' comments by CIA Director Leon Panetta that US officials had ruled out informing Islamabad in advance about Sunday's US raid. Asked about the compound where Bin Laden was discovered, Mr Bashir said: "This particular location was pointed out by our intelligence quite some time ago to the US intelligence. "Of course they have a much more sophisticated equipment to evaluate and to assess." On Mr Panetta's comments, he said: "I know for sure that we have extended every cooperation to the US, including the CIA as well as to other countries, so far as the campaign against terror is concerned. "In terms of success in what is called global anti-terror, Pakistan has played a pivotal role so it is a little disquieting when we hear comments like this." 'Osama was not armed' The White House gave the fullest account yet of the dramatic helicopter-borne raid that killed the alleged architect of the 9/11 attacks in the dead of night. "In the room with Bin Laden, a woman – Bin Laden's wife – rushed the US assaulter and was shot in the leg but not killed," White House spokesman Jay Carney said. "Bin Laden was then shot and killed. He was not armed." When pressed further, Mr Carney said there had been significant resistance, a "volatile firefight", and insisted: "We were prepared to capture him if that was possible."–AFP