The compound where Osama Bin Laden was killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on May 8, 2011. About 16 children who were living with Osama Bin Laden in his Pakistani hideout were carefully watched by the Al-Qaeda leader, forced to study at home and rarely ventured out of the fortress-like compound. US special forces killed Bin Laden in a raid on his compound in the town of Abbottabad, 50 km north of Islamabad, on May 2.
Pakistani investigators searching the buildings after the raid found a room equipped with a drawing board that served as a home school for the children.\"The kids weren’t allowed to go to nearby schools to avoid being traced,\" said a security official.
\"They were very protective, very secretive about the children... As you can imagine, the children may have blurted something out,\" said the official.
The world’s most wanted man spent nearly 10 years in hiding after orchestrating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, until US agents finally tracked him down.
Among the people that Pakistani authorities detained after the raid were three of Bin Laden’s wives, a Yemeni and two Saudis.
The two Saudi women were highly educated, with one of them holding a doctorate in Islamic law, and it was they who taught the children, the Pakistani investigators said.
Among the children, were four of Bin Laden’s grandchildren, they said. It was not believed that all of the other children were Bin Laden’s, they said. One of Bin Laden’s sons was killed in the US raid along with two other men.
Neighbors on the edge of Abbottabad where the compound was located were shocked to learn that Bin Laden had been living among them but some said his presence explained the strange behavior of the residents of the compound.
The children never ventured out alone to play with the neighborhood children and were only occasionally seen walking to nearby shops, but always with an adult, neighbors said.
Pakistani security officials said Bin Laden’s wives and the children will be deported back to their countries after an investigation is finished.