Bin Laden children were 'normal,' doctor recalls
Source: Agencies |
June 2, 2011, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
FOR pediatrician Mehar Dil Wazir, they were a normal bunch of kids, like the dozens of others he treats daily for tummy upsets, coughs and colds.
He thought the same about the two men who brought them to his simple clinic, a well-dressed pair who said they were cousins. But a few days after the May 2 raid that killed Osama bin Laden in this northwestern Pakistani town, intelligence agents told him his child patients lived in the same house with the terror leader. The men who brought them in were bin Laden's most trusted couriers.
"They seemed to be gentlemen," Wazir said on Tuesday, revealing for the first time his connection with bin Laden. "And the kids were good looking and healthy."
The intelligence agents told the 67-year-old doctor they traced him from prescriptions he had written that were found in the bin Laden house. They questioned him for several hours and left, satisfied that he did not know the identity of his patients.
Wazir's recollections give fresh glimpses into the life of the world's most wanted man, his family and associates during their time in Abbottabad. It's a picture that still is shrouded in mystery for the most part nearly a month after bin Laden was shot to death by US Navy SEALs.
The doctor said the men told him their names were Arshad and Tariq, the same names they gave to neighbors living next door to the bin Laden hideout. Both men apparently lived there with their families, looking after bin Laden and his three wives and children who inhabited the upper story of the house.
The bin Ladens, at least the adults, were never seen outside the high-walled compound. Neighbors said there was little remarkable about the two men - they were polite, but didn't talk much to others in the neighborhood. Wazir's recollections also suggest they were good at blending in and living an anonymous life even as they sheltered the al-Qaida chief.
He said he didn't remember treating them for any serious illnesses.
He thought the same about the two men who brought them to his simple clinic, a well-dressed pair who said they were cousins. But a few days after the May 2 raid that killed Osama bin Laden in this northwestern Pakistani town, intelligence agents told him his child patients lived in the same house with the terror leader. The men who brought them in were bin Laden's most trusted couriers.
"They seemed to be gentlemen," Wazir said on Tuesday, revealing for the first time his connection with bin Laden. "And the kids were good looking and healthy."
The intelligence agents told the 67-year-old doctor they traced him from prescriptions he had written that were found in the bin Laden house. They questioned him for several hours and left, satisfied that he did not know the identity of his patients.
Wazir's recollections give fresh glimpses into the life of the world's most wanted man, his family and associates during their time in Abbottabad. It's a picture that still is shrouded in mystery for the most part nearly a month after bin Laden was shot to death by US Navy SEALs.
The doctor said the men told him their names were Arshad and Tariq, the same names they gave to neighbors living next door to the bin Laden hideout. Both men apparently lived there with their families, looking after bin Laden and his three wives and children who inhabited the upper story of the house.
The bin Ladens, at least the adults, were never seen outside the high-walled compound. Neighbors said there was little remarkable about the two men - they were polite, but didn't talk much to others in the neighborhood. Wazir's recollections also suggest they were good at blending in and living an anonymous life even as they sheltered the al-Qaida chief.
He said he didn't remember treating them for any serious illnesses.
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