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Security officials have told Channel 4 News that Osama bin Laden was captured alive and shot dead by US special forces. The claims were apparently made by bin Laden's daughter.
It is understood Osama bin Laden's daughter said that her father was shot dead during the first few minutes of the raid on the terror chief's home in Pakistan. Channel 4 News has learned the new details from senior Pakistani security officials, via a source in the country.
Besides recovering four bullet-riddled bodies from the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistani security agencies also arrested two women and six children, aging between two and 12 years, after American forces completed a midnight operation, it is claimed. Some reports suggest that 16 people, including women and children had been arrested from the house.
'Neighbour they never knew was there'
Channel 4 News has been told that security officials have not recovered any arms or explosives during their detailed search of the compound so far.
It is not thought there was a bunker or tunnel inside the house. A local official claimed that two brothers own the house but he had no information about them or their business.
Bin Laden's hideout was not in a cave in the mountains, but a fortified building in a wealthy suburb of Abbottabad. US officials now believe the terror chief had been living there for around five years. Crowds have gathered outside the building to watch and wonder about their notorious neighbour.
Local people have told Channel 4 News "no-one knew who was there" but that the house seemed "very strange". The 20 foot high walls with barbed wire certainly make the house very different from others in the neighbourhood.
A corner shop owner told International Editor Lindsey Hilsum that two men from the house used to buy cold drinks and cigarettes, but he never dreamed they might be working for the fugitive bin Laden.
Another witness said when children hit their balls into the compound, they would knock on the door, and those people would tell them, there's no ball here and give them money instead.
Before opening the area to the media, Pakistani soldiers shifted to buffalos, a cow and around 150 hens from the compound.
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Osama bin Laden ‘captured alive’ before US forces killed him
