US agents question Bin Laden’s widows

WASHINGTON—US intelligence services have interrogated three of Osama bin Laden’s widows who were picked up in a US raid that saw the al-Qaida leader killed, CNN said on Thursday, citing US and Pakistani sources.

The women were reportedly interviewed as a group, despite US wishes to interview them separately, and were openly “hostile” to US officials interviewing them, said CNN, quoting a Pakistani government official and two US officials.

<strong>Intelligence sharing</strong>

The eldest of the wives spoke for all them in the interview, which was also attended by members of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency.

Members of both governments told CNN that despite the uptick in tensions between the two antiterror allies in the wake of the US commando raid that killed Bin Laden, intelligence sharing has continued.

The White House had called on Islamabad to help counter the growing mistrust by granting US investigators access to the three widows, who have been in Pakistani custody.

It is thought the women could have vital information on the al-Qaida network and Bin Laden’s involvement—from his hideout—in their operations.

The United States has demanded an investigation as to how the al-Qaida chief could have lived for years in a garrison city only about 50 kilometers from Islamabad. <strong><em>AFP</strong></em>