Was Osama betrayed by his jealous wife in Zawahiri plot?

New York, Mar 9: Osama bin Laden, the world's most wanted fugitive who spent his last days being sidelined from al-Qaeda despite having created the terror outfit, was probably betrayed by one of his jealous wives and his deputy.

It seems all was not well in Osama bin Laden's safe house in Pakistan towards the end, the New York Times reported saying there was "poisonous mistrust" between Osama's three wives, with one of them being accused of betraying him to US intelligence.

A new twist to the mystery of how bin Laden got a shelter in a Pakistani cantonment town for over six years, before he was gunned down by US SEALs and his last days have come from a retired Pakistani brigadier Shaukat Qadir, who carried out his own investigations, the Times said. Besides the intense jealousies among his wives, Qadir claims that bin Laden had been sidelined by his outfit.

"al-Qaeda decided to retire him in 2003 as he was mentally senile having picked up some degenerative disease from 2001."

Last August, the retired brigadier, retraced the steps of the American commandos who stormed through the corridors of bin Laden's hide-out on May 2 last year. Qadir, who claims that his army background was crucial to get army chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani's approval to make two visits to bin Laden's house, says he has no evidence, but offers a tantalising image of a frail man betrayed through one of his wives in an al-Qaeda plot.

The Brigadier claims that his theories are his own, but admits he may have been manipulated by the army and ISI who are still fending off suspicions of complicity in sheltering bin Laden.

PTI