<p>CNN quoted a diplomatic source as saying that the man was Abu Ahmad. His identity was established way back in 2007 when the US intensified efforts to track down bin Laden.<br /><br />In July last year, Pakistanis working for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) drove up behind a white Suzuki near Peshawar, driven by Ahmad, the New York Times reported.<br />The car's licence plate number was noted.<br /><br />After weeks of surveillance, the courier led them to the sprawling compound in Abbottabad. The house was ringed by tall security fences in a wealthy hamlet, some 120 km from Islamabad.<br /><br />The raid on bin Laden's hideout was also the culmination of years of painstaking intelligence work, including the interrogation of detainees in secret prisons in eastern Europe. <br /><br />Prisoners in US custody told stories of a trusted courier, the daily said. When the Americans ran the man's pseudonym past two top-level detainees, the men claimed never to have heard his name. <br /><br />Once the CIA got the courier's family name, the National Security Agency began intercepting telephone calls and e-mail messages between the man's family in a Gulf state and anyone inside Pakistan. <br /><br />From there they got his full name. After spotting the courier last July in the Suzuki, the CIA sleuths tailed him over the next month throughout central Pakistan.<br /><br />The Al Qaeda chief was killed in a top secret operation by US commandos in the Abbottabad house Monday.</p>
<p>CNN quoted a diplomatic source as saying that the man was Abu Ahmad. His identity was established way back in 2007 when the US intensified efforts to track down bin Laden.<br /><br />In July last year, Pakistanis working for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) drove up behind a white Suzuki near Peshawar, driven by Ahmad, the New York Times reported.<br />The car's licence plate number was noted.<br /><br />After weeks of surveillance, the courier led them to the sprawling compound in Abbottabad. The house was ringed by tall security fences in a wealthy hamlet, some 120 km from Islamabad.<br /><br />The raid on bin Laden's hideout was also the culmination of years of painstaking intelligence work, including the interrogation of detainees in secret prisons in eastern Europe. <br /><br />Prisoners in US custody told stories of a trusted courier, the daily said. When the Americans ran the man's pseudonym past two top-level detainees, the men claimed never to have heard his name. <br /><br />Once the CIA got the courier's family name, the National Security Agency began intercepting telephone calls and e-mail messages between the man's family in a Gulf state and anyone inside Pakistan. <br /><br />From there they got his full name. After spotting the courier last July in the Suzuki, the CIA sleuths tailed him over the next month throughout central Pakistan.<br /><br />The Al Qaeda chief was killed in a top secret operation by US commandos in the Abbottabad house Monday.</p>