(CNN) — A single phone call by Osama bin Laden’s trusted courier tipped off U.S. officials to his Pakistan compound, ultimately leading to last week’s raid that killed the al Qaeda leader, a senior Pakistani intelligence official today.
The telephone call the courier made was “not the final one — it was the initial piece of evidence” that sparked the focus on the compound in Abbottabad, the official said.
Four years ago, U.S. officials uncovered the identity of a trusted bin Laden courier — later identified as a Kuwaiti named Abu Ahmad — whom they believed was living with and protecting the al Qaeda leader.
The Washington Post, citing U.S. intelligence officials, reported yesterday that Americans had intercepted a “catch-up phone call” Ahmad took from an old friend.
“This is where you start the movie about the hunt for bin Laden,” one U.S. official briefed on the intelligence-gathering leading up to the early Monday raid on the compound told the Washington Post.
The Pakistani official said the phone call was made by the courier, though he didn’t know when.
The courier and his brother were among those killed in Monday’s raid.
