Washington - US intelligence services have interrogated three of Osama bin Laden's widows who were picked up in a US raid that saw the al-Qaeda leader killed, CNN said on Thursday, citing US and Pakistani sources.
The women were reportedly interviewed as a group, despite US wishes to interview them separately, and were openly “hostile” to US officials interviewing them, said CNN, quoting a Pakistani government official and two US officials close to matter.
The eldest of the wives spoke for all of them in the interview, which was also attended by members of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency.
Members of both governments told CNN that despite the uptick in tensions between the two anti-terror allies, in the wake of the US commando raid that killed bin Laden, the world's most wanted man, intelligence sharing has continued.
The White House had called on Islamabad to help counter growing mistrust by granting US investigators access to the three, who have been in Pakistani custody.
It is thought the women could have vital information on the al-Qaeda network and bin Laden's involvement - from his hide-out - in their operations.
The United States has demanded an investigation as to how the al-Qaeda chief could have lived for years in a garrison city less than a mile from a top military academy and only 56 kilometres from Islamabad.
Pakistan officials have slammed the raid but adamantly denied sheltering the man believed to have masterminded the September 11, 2001 attacks, which killed some 3 000 people. - Sapa-AFP