Pakistan's Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani's first concern after hearing about the US raid on Osama bin Laden's Abbottabad compound was the country's nuclear missile installations, one of which was only a few dozen miles from the killed al-Qaeda chief's hideout.
The Wall Streets Journal quoted Pakistani officials as saying that Kayani immediately called Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman, who targeted two US-made F-16 fighter jets from a nearby air base, but the choppers were already out of Pakistani airspace, The Nation reports.
Kayani was reportedly informed after four hours by Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US joint chiefs, that a Navy SEALs team had killed bin Laden inside Pakistan and returned to Afghanistan without alerting the authorities in Islamabad.
Terming bin Laden's killing as a 'victory', US National Security Adviser Tom Donilon had said yesterday that the United States had taken an important step in bringing down his terrorist organization.
Although the entire incident has embarrassed Pakistan's intelligence service, Donilon has said there was no evidence that Pakistan was aware that the killed terror leader was living in Abbottabad for five years.
"The killing of bin Laden marked an epic victory for US forces. But for Pakistan military and intelligence network, it has meant national humiliation," he added. (ANI)
