Osama Family Under Interrogation in Pakistan

One of Osama Bin Laden’s daughters watched as U.S. forces shot and killed her father Sunday, according to a senior Pakistani official.

The unidentified official told Reuters that the daughter, aged 12 or 13, is one of an unspecified number of people who have confirmed that the al-Qaida leader had been killed during the U.S. military raid on his secret compound in Pakistan.

She is also one of nine or so of Bin Laden’s relatives currently awaiting interrogation by the Pakistan government. The official said that in addition to as many as eight of Bin Laden’s children, the country also has custody of one of Bin Laden’s wives.

It is not clear if the wife is the same one who was originally reported to have been killed during the Sunday raid. (The White House now says that, contrary to what it originally reported, Bin Laden did not use one of his wives as a human shield, and that the wife in question was injured and not killed during the 40-minute military operation.)

The relatives will be interrogated and then most likely turned over to their countries of origin, in accordance with Pakistani law, according to the official.

It appears as though U.S. forces may have originally meant to bring the relatives with them when they left the compound aboard military helicopters.

Reuters:

The official said the wife and children were left behind after an American transport helicopter, possibly an MH-60 Sea Hawk, was abandoned because of mechanical problems.

He said there was not enough room for the group on the other helicopters, which were transporting bin Laden's body, other male captives and the commandos.