WASHINGTON — The CIA will send a forensics team to inspect the Pakistani compound where Osama bin Laden was shot dead in a US raid, it was reported Thursday.
The Pakistani government has given the CIA permission to use special equipment to search for materials that may be hidden on the property, The Washington Post reported.
Pakistan will also allow the CIA to scrutinize materials that were seized from the compound by Pakistani security forces, and the CIA has asked the country’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency for help in analyzing and deciphering evidence confiscated by US forces during the raid, the report said.
US officials told The Post that a CIA team is expected to begin the inspection within days. The team is hoping to use hi-tech equipment, such as infrared cameras capable of penetrating walls and floors, to search for materials that were not confiscated by US Navy SEALs during the May 2 raid, which lasted only 40 minutes.
The CIA is also hoping to gather DNA evidence that could identify those who have been in the house, as well as those who built and maintained the compound, FOX News Channel reported.
The officials said CIA Deputy Director Michael J. Morell negotiated access to the compound during a trip to Islamabad last week.
President Barack Obama has described the intelligence gathering that led to the raid as “one of the greatest intelligence successes in American history.”
The CIA conducted surveillance of the compound in Abbottabad by using unmanned aircraft, satellites and spies.
US officials have said the compound yielded “the mother lode of intelligence,” including computers, thumb drives, papers and electronic equipment. So far, the intelligence has suggested that al Qaeda was interested in attacking US oil tankers, planes and railroads, officials have said.