WASHINGTON — A cellphone used by Osama bin Laden's courier appears
to show that the Al-Qaeda leader was aided by militants linked to
Pakistani intelligence,
The New York Times said.
Citing US
officials briefed on an investigation into the phone, the Times said
calls from the device were traced to Harakat-ul-Mujahideen, a militant
group linked to Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)
agency.
"It's a serious lead," one US official told the Times. "It's an avenue we're investigating."
Another
US official told the daily that the link was not, however, a "smoking
gun" that definitively linked bin Laden to the ISI, as it was unclear
if the calls were related to him.
The phone was seized during a
daring US commando raid in Pakistan last month in which both bin Laden
and his courier were killed.
The Pakistan-based Harakat ul-Mujahideen is classified as a "terrorist" organisation by the United States.
Defence
analysis group Jane's said the outfit has conducted raids on Indian
security positions and is active in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. The
Times said it has maintained clandestine links with the ISI for years.
Relations
between Pakistan and the United States, tense at the best of times,
deteriorated sharply over the bin Laden raid, which humiliated the
Pakistani military and invited allegations of incompetence and
complicity.
As US President Barack Obama seeks to bring an end to
the war in Pakistan's neighbor Afghanistan, US and Pakistani officials
have sought to play down any unease between them. AFP
