Nestled in a middle-class neighbourhood in north-western Pakistan, the half-hectare house surrounded by seven-metre walls, topped with barbed wire, was unusual by local standards. But no one ever suspected the compound, in a town widely known as an "Army City," due to its military training and education institutions, was sheltering the world's most wanted fugitive.
When the news broke Monday that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had been killed there, many neighbours in Bilal Town on the outskirts of the city of Abbottabad were stunned, as troops and police swarmed over the area and sealed the area for hours. "I heard the sound of helicopters flying over, and then there was a huge blast that smashed the windows and doors of my house," said Khan Gul, who lives just 100 metres from the fortified compound where bin Laden was killed in an operation by US special forces.
"I rushed to the roof and saw flames rising from a house," Gul said. "All we knew about this house was that it was owned by some Pashtuns. No one in our neighbourhood knew more than this because the residents of this house had never communicated with anyone here."
Pashtuns are the main ethnic group living in Pakistan's north-western Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. They also make up the majority of the Afghan population, and of the Taliban militants. Local police in the mountain resort town of Abbottabad, population 200,000, said they knew nothing of the compound's notorious occupant when they were ordered to surround Bilal late Sunday.
"We were told by higher authorities that some terrorists were hiding there so we should position our forces to foil any escape," said a police official who spoke on condition of anonymity. The operation started around 1:30 am (20.30 GMT Sunday), when three US helicopters from a US base near Islamabad, launched a mission to drop Navy Seals onto the roof of the three-storey compound.
One of the helicopters was brought down by a rocket-propelled grenade, injuring the pilot who subsequently died in hospital, according to some local reports. US special forces then killed three rooftop guards, a Pakistani intelligence official told on condition of anonymity.
Witnesses reported hearing one or two loud explosions followed by an hour of gunfire, and flames rising from the compound into the night sky. Pakistani media reports cited local intelligence officials saying that bin Laden's one son and four guards were also killed while his two wives, six other sons and four aides were arrested.
Abbottabad, around 60 kilometres from the capital Islamabad, had never been the target of anti-terrorism activities before. But locals had reported suspicions that Islamist militants, mainly Taliban, kept their families there, far from the operations against insurgents in the tribal areas on the Afghan border.
"We have been warning the local administration that people with weird identities were here but no one listened to us," said a worker with a local non-governmental organisation, who requested anonymity out of fear of reprisal. A police officer said, "We cannot talk about it officially but the areas surrounding Abbottabad have turned into a major sanctuary of militants in recent years."
"Last year several al Qaeda militants were arrested from Haripur area, not 30 kilometres from here," said the officer, who also sought anonymity. In Kala Dhaka, a mountainous area around an hour an a half's drive further north, the extremists were training not only locals to fight the Indian army in Kashmir but also al Qaeda recruits, the official said.
"This has been a peaceful area and an attraction for tourists. Our day-to-day living is affected by this. We don't want terrorists here," Sheraz Khan, a local vendor said. Bin Laden's ability to hide in an opulent residence barely 200 metres from a military academy has raised many questions, especially against the background of Islamabad's vehement and repeated denials of his presence on Pakistani soil. His discovery and killing are set to have significant international diplomatic repercussions. But locals have tried to distance themselves from the incident."Bin Laden is dead. I don't want to comment on that. I can only ask the Pakistani government to please let us live in peace," Khan said.