Sohaib Athar Captures Osama Bin Laden Raid On Twitter

By Reed Stevenson

DUBAI - (Reuters) - In the early hours of Monday, Sohaib Athar reported on his Twitter account that a loud bang had rattled his windows in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad, saying he hoped "its not the start of something nasty."

A few hours later Athar posted another tweet: "Uh oh, now I'm the guy who liveblogged the Osama raid without knowing it."

In the age of Twitter, perhaps it's no surprise that the first signs of the U.S. operation that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden were noticed by an IT consultant awake late at night.

Athar, a resident of Abbottabad where bin Laden was holed up, first noticed a helicopter and thought it unusual enough to post this on his Twitter account.

"Helicopter hovering above Abbottabad at 1AM (is a rare event)," wrote Athar. Moments later, he added: "A huge window shaking bang here... I hope its not the start of something nasty."

After liveblogging and speculating for several hours over what happened, it dawned on Athar and those following him that they were witnessing the end of a worldwide manhunt for the man held responsible for orchestrating the September 11, 2001 attacks.

"I think the helicopter crash in Abbottabad, Pakistan and the President Obama breaking news address are connected," said one of Athar's followers.

Seven hours after Athar's first tweet, President Barack Obama announced bin Laden's death in an operation by U.S. forces where one helicopter was lost.

Twitter, launched five years after the 2001 attacks, is used by an estimated 200 million people per day, serving as an internet platform for users to broadcast, track and share short messages of no more 140 characters in length.

Athar's tweets, initially peppered with jokes ("Uh oh, there goes the neighborhood") eventually turned to exasperation as his email inbox, Skype and Twitter accounts were flooded by those trying to reach him ("Ok, I give up. I can't read all the @ mentions so I'll stop trying").

Athar did not respond to a request by Reuters for comment.

Separately, in the United States, the first indication that bin Laden had been found and killed came from a another tweet by Keith Urbahn, who says on his Twitter profile that he is chief of staff for former U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

"So I'm told by a reputable person they have killed Osama Bin Laden. Hot damn," Urbahn tweeted more than hour before Obama's speech.

(editing by David Stamp)

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions

Comments

[wildtrail01]

03:01 AM on 05/08/2011

So sohaib is woken up by the helicopters while Osama was blissfully asleep until they broker open his room.

It just doesn't add up.

And then he clutches his wife as a human shield.

I wish the US govt stops giving the job of preparing the press releases to Hollywood scriptwriters.

[MAB]

11:42 PM on 05/05/2011

David Stamp needs glasses and a reference.

[mastheader1]

09:48 AM on 05/03/2011

My statement means that people like manning and assard of wilkileaks would have giving that imfo to the press ,as they have done !

[mastheader1]

06:51 PM on 05/02/2011

Too bad private manning was locked up ,i am sure he would have passed this information on to wikileaks, this is why we need secrets .

[Moxo]

10:30 PM on 05/02/2011

You still don't make any sense at all.

If this had happened under Bush (despite Bush not caring one iota about OBL - read GW's pronouncements over the years) there is no way Dub & Co could have kept the mission a secret beforehand, nor would they have wanted to, such is his need for validation of his manhood and mental acumen.

It figures that a former member of the Rumsfeld team would be announcing to the Tweetverse something that at that point was a state secret.

[undrgrndgirl]

06:05 PM on 05/02/2011

the man has been made a martyr and a vacuum has been created...i'm sure there will be retaliation...

[mbobmcc]

05:55 PM on 05/02/2011

It appears that while Donald Trump was having to make the HUGE decision whether to fire Gary Busey or Meat Loaf, President Obama was making the call to take out the worst terrorist in the world. Donny boy, you wouldn't even make a good apprentice president.

[dmm1047]

05:28 PM on 05/02/2011

This guy never saw anything suspicious. No guns going in and out, no thoughts that something was wrong with the building of this fortress? Strange.

[MAB]

11:44 PM on 05/05/2011

Fortress = can't see behind walls. Duh.

[ThisAlreadyHappened]

05:18 PM on 05/02/2011

Twitter is like the drunken uncle of big brother.

[tmack19718]

05:16 PM on 05/02/2011

The search for OBL started 3 presidents ago, and we give the credit to one man Pres Obama. I am sorry I cant agree with who receives the credit. To me and I am sure most Americans the credit goes to all the men and woman in the military who have given up days and weeks and years of time with their family's and have also given their lives to hunt this man down. So to anyone who thinks this victory belongs to the obama admin or any other adimin they are wrong it belongs to all of the men and woman who gaurd our boarders

[renesmly]

06:05 PM on 05/02/2011

I agree with you, but President Obama is the commander in chief and he ordered this attack, so it was under his watch you have to give that to him. But I absolutely agree that it couldn't have happened if not for the men and women who have given their lives through out this terrible war they are the ones who deserve the credit for this being successful.

[frost2112]

06:18 PM on 05/02/2011

And the people who obtained the information, and the people who kept the defense department from simply blowing up the building and thus making it impossible for us to know we got him, and the people who made it clear that they would go into Pakistan without permission if they had actionable intelligence, and the people who decided whether the intelligence was actionable, the people who, even when we had a good idea where he was, demanded that were were certain before we went into a trap and thus getting our service men and women killed due to impatience.

[Wilson201]

04:54 PM on 05/02/2011

Obama got Osama. Check! Used intelligence to our benefit instead of ignoring it. GOBAMA!!!

[UTARebel]

06:53 PM on 05/02/2011

Obama used intelligence?? RFLOL

[AlpineSkier]

08:06 PM on 05/02/2011

Yes sir he did unlike some...... ROFL!!!

[Wilson201]

10:26 PM on 05/02/2011

Oh, and by the way, Obama got Osama.

[sieben13]

04:10 PM on 05/02/2011

I find it hard to believe that he didn't know bin laden lived in that compound

[allmywickedsins]

05:22 PM on 05/02/2011

Hell, many of us don't even know who lives next door. I don't find it odd at all.

[frost2112]

06:19 PM on 05/02/2011

Forget it, sieben, it's Pakistan.

[ZaneDavid]

03:20 PM on 05/02/2011

Hitler / Argentina...Moon Landing.....Death Star....CIA plants....twitter...GOP

What Is Wrong With You People??
Seriously, what is wrong with you?

[Marklar]

04:33 PM on 05/02/2011

I have no clue what you are trying to say.

[renesmly]

06:06 PM on 05/02/2011

I don't either ????????

[mbobmcc]

05:47 PM on 05/02/2011

HUH????

[dickn2000b]

03:05 PM on 05/02/2011

I got a kick out of the phrase, "He was buried at sea." What happened is that after his identification was confirmed they dumped the body overboard.

[Stilyagi]

03:03 PM on 05/02/2011

The revolution will not be televised.

....It will be Tweeted.

(groan)

[Knowledgeseeker]

02:49 PM on 05/02/2011

Before CNN and Fox got the news