'US security officials debated several options to attack Bin Laden before killing him'

Washington, Apr 28(ANI): US President Barack Obama's top national security officials had debated various other options, including dropping an experimental small bomb on al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden inside his Pakistan's fortress, obliterating the compound with a B-2 bomber or inviting Pakistan to conduct a joint operation before the deadly Navy Seals raid on May 2, according to a new book by bin Laden expert Peter Bergen.

While some favored the small bomb option, including then-Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Gen. James E. Cartwright to attack Bin Laden, others claimed that the mini-bomb might miss the target or would not provide evidence to prove to the world that bin Laden had been killed.

"One idea was to throw in foul-smelling stink bombs to flush out the occupants. Another was to use loudspeakers outside to broadcast from a purported "voice of Allah" commanding them to come into the street. Others proposed establishing a nearby safe house. That idea was adopted but provided agents with little information about what, or who, was inside," The Washington Post quoted Bergen, as saying.

The book, "Manhunt. The Ten-Year Search for Bin Laden From 9/11 to Abbottabad," is scheduled for publication on May 1, which marks the first anniversary of bin Laden's death.

But excerpts of the book describing bin Laden's final days have already been published online by Time magazine.

The book describes bin Laden's six-year stay in Abbottabad until the last moment of his life when, according to Bergen, he uttered his final words to his fourth wife, as the NavySeals climbed the stairs to his bedroom: "Don't turn on the light."

It is drawn from now-declassified documents seized by the SEALS from the compound, interviews with senior U.S. policymakers and a visit to the compound itself two weeks before the Pakistani government ordered it destroyed in February 2011. (ANI)