Pakistani soldiers arrested a peasant in Abbottabad near the compound where Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was killed in a US raid, the man’s relatives and police said Tuesday.
Shamrez Khan, 50, was arrested by Pakistani security officials a few hours after the US-led operation on Monday, according to his son and neighbours.
“My father was taken into custody outside his house when he was looking at the house where the operation was conducted,” Khan’s 20-year-old son Mohammad Qasim told AFP.
Shamrez comes from a family of farmers based next door to the bin Laden compound.
About a dozen neighbours confirmed that army personnel took Khan into custody.
“I personally know this family they are poor farmers. Shamrez Khan is innocent,” Mohammad Ishaq, a farmer told AFP.
Military officials were not available to confirm the arrest, but a local police official said Khan was picked up by the military.
“He is in their custody,” he said requesting anonymity.
Bin Laden was killed in a night-time raid by US commandos on a compound 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the Pakistani capital on Monday.
