World

Have we been told the truth about Bin Laden's death?

A recent controversial account of the death of Osama Bin Laden claims there was a conspiracy at the highest levels of the US and Pakistani government to assassinate him.

I have been investigating al-Qaeda and Bin Laden for the BBC for nearly two decades - a quest which has taken me from the caves of Tora Bora to the high-walled Pakistani compound where he met his bloody end. So is there any truth in this latest theory?

Seymour Hersh, a veteran US investigative journalist, has embarrassed US governments before with revelations about the My Lai massacre in Vietnam and abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

He laid low for several weeks after a mauling in much of the American press but eventually agreed to speak to me about his article published in the London Review of Books.

Mr Hersh claims that Pakistani intelligence - the ISI - were holding Bin Laden prisoner for nearly six years in the garrison town of Abbottabad and just handed him over to the Americans in a staged raid. According to Mr Hersh the official US account is therefore "a fairytale."

Michael Morell, the deputy director of the CIA who led the intelligence gathering and was in the CIA operations centre on the night of the raid in 2011, gave me his insider's account - and his view of Mr Hersh's theory. "It's rubbish, rubbish, almost every sentence is inaccurate," says Mr Morell.

Pakistani police guard Bin Laden's compound after the raid in 2011.

The CIA's account has always hinged on the courier, an al-Qaeda henchman who they say was tracked over eight years until he led them to Bin Laden's compound.

At the time of his death I revealed on Panorama that the ISI had given the CIA a mobile phone number without knowing its significance and that US surveillance of that number led eventually to the courier. Several CIA analysts and top American officials have testified to the discovery and tracking of the courier.

However Mr Hersh rejects that and says instead that the key figure was an un-named "walk-in" - a retired Pakistani military intelligence officer. He came to the US embassy in Islamabad in August 2010 and told the CIA his country was hiding Bin Laden - in return for much of the $25 million US reward.

Mr Hersh argues that knowledge of Bin Laden's whereabouts went right to the top of the Pakistan army and intelligence service. The CIA rejects this view, saying that the Pakistani top brass did not know.

Turkey's AKP faces challenge to form government

Turkey's AK party faces a challenge to form a government after losing its majority at a general election for the first time in 13 years.

It secured 41%, a sharp drop from 2011, when it won nearly half of the vote.

Under Turkey's proportional representation system, this means the AKP will need to form a coalition or face entering a minority government.

The pro-Kurdish HDP crossed the 10% threshold, securing seats in parliament for the first time.

There were jubilant scenes as the party's supporters took to the streets chanting "we are the HDP, we are going to the parliament".

"It is a carnival night," 47-year-old Huseyin Durmaz told AFP. "We no longer trust the AKP."

HDP leader Selahattin Demirtas ruled out entering into a coalition with the AKP, pointing out that the election results had put an end to discussions about a presidential system.

The result is a blow to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's plans to boost his office's powers.

He first came to power as prime minister in 2003 and had been seeking a two-thirds majority to turn Turkey into a presidential republic.

"The discussion of executive presidency and dictatorship have come to an end in Turkey with these elections," Mr Demirtas told a news conference in Istanbul.

A victim of Friday's bombing in the HDP's heartland of Diyarbakir turned out to vote on Sunday

Mr Davutoglu and his wife greeted supporters following the election results

Speaking from the balcony of the AKP headquarters in Ankara Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said: "The winner of the election is again the AKP, there's no doubt."

But he added: "Our people's decision is final. It's above everything and we will act in line with it."

Turkey's lira was trading at near-record lows against the dollar early on Monday as markets reacted to the news.

Malaysia exhumes suspected migrant remains from graves

Malaysia has begun exhuming bodies suspected to be migrants buried in mass grave sites found by the Thai border.
Authorities believe migrants were held for ransom in jungle camps, and those who died were buried in 139 graves.


Thousands of migrants have left Myanmar and Bangladesh in recent weeks on boats and overland through Thailand and Malaysia. Some have ended up in the hands of 
human traffickers.


Thailand has meanwhile offered a "floating naval base" to help migrants.
Officials believe the camps were only abandoned recently, following a crackdown by 
Thailand on human traffickers after similar mass graves were found in its southern 
Songkhla province.


Some migrants were apparently held at the camps in "human cages" made of wood and barbed wire.
Malaysia's national police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said there were signs that torture had been used, but he did not elaborate. "We were shocked by the cruelty," said Mr Khalid.
Referring to the "cages", he told reporters: "We think the migrants were imprisoned in these wooden pens...They were not allowed to move freely and traffickers kept watch at sentry posts."



The camps were found near the site of the mass graves

Earlier this month, Thailand began cracking down on the routes used by traffickers to move Bangladeshi migrants and Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar through its territory.
The migrants, who want to reach Malaysia, were instead being sent by sea, but thousands were left drifting as no country wanted to take them in.
The UN's refugee agency says about 3,000 people have now reached land, but estimates another 2,600 may still be out at sea.
Malaysia and Indonesia this week agreed to stop rejecting boats and to provide temporary shelter to the migrants.
But while Thailand said it would stop towing away boats from its territory, it said would not take in migrants.
On Monday, facing international pressure to do more, Thailand's Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said the country would establish a "floating naval base" to help migrants.
A navy ship with surveillance aircraft will give supplies and medical treatment to migrants stranded in the Andaman Sea.
But only people with serious medical needs will be taken to land, where they will be considered illegal arrivals.
"If anyone is injured or sick, they can be treated at hospitals in Thailand but will face illegal entry charges - it is up to them to decide," he said.

Iraq will take back Ramadi from IS 'in days' - PM Abadi

Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi has said that the city of Ramadi could be taken back from Islamic State militants "in days".

But he told the BBC that more support was needed from international coalition partners.

Iraqi forces have suffered a number of defeats at the hands of IS over the past year, and fled from a smaller militant force in Ramadi last week.

US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter said on Sunday that the rout showed Iraqi troops lacked the will to fight.

Mr Carter told CNN's State of the Union that the Iraqis had chosen to withdraw despite the fact that they "vastly outnumbered" IS forces.

Meanwhile the leader of the Lebanese Shia Hezbollah movement, Hassan Nasrallah, said the world faced an unprecedented danger from IS and other Sunni militant groups fighting in Syria.

Speaking to thousands of supporters via video link, he acknowledged for the first time that Hezbollah was fighting throughout Syria in support of embattled President Bashar al-Assad.

Some observers say IS now controls 50% of Syria's entire territory - as well as a third of Iraq.

"They have the will to fight but when they are faced with an onslaught by Daesh [IS] from nowhere... with armoured trucks packed with explosives, the effect of them is like a small nuclear bomb - it gives a very very bad effect on our forces," he said.

The Iraqi government has deployed Shia militias to the area to try to stop the IS advance, and Mr Abadi said he was confident that Ramadi could be recaptured.

"It makes my heart bleed because we lost Ramadi, but I can assure you we can bring it back soon," he said.

On Saturday, the militiamen retook Husayba, east of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, with heavy fighting continuing in the area on Sunday.

But the prime minister said Iraq needed more international support as many IS fighters were slipping into Iraq from Syria and bringing new tactics to the fight.

Malaysia finds 'migrant' mass graves near Thai border

Several mass graves thought to contain bodies of migrants have been found in Malaysia, authorities say.

Home Minister Zahid Hamidi was quoted by Malayia's Star newspaper as saying the graves were found in 17 abandoned trafficking camps near the Thai border.

He did not know how many bodies had been recovered.

Several mass graves have been found in Thailand along a route used to smuggle Rohingya Muslims fleeing persecution in Myanmar (also known as Burma).

But these would the first discovered in Malaysia.

Thailand has already launched a crackdown on the trafficking networks.

The Thai trafficking networks, he found, bought boatloads of migrants from other smugglers and held them in the jungle until their families paid a ransom. Many migrants are believed to have perished from disease or starvation.

Every year thousands of people are trafficked through Thailand and into Malaysia.

The latest graves were found near Padang Besar and Wang Kelian in the Malaysian state of Perlis, Malaysian newspaper reports said.

Utusan Malaysia newspaper cited unnamed sources as saying about 30 mass graves had been found containing "hundreds of skeletons".

The Star said the graves were "believed to contain nearly 100 Rohingya migrants".

Thousands of migrants - Rohingyas fleeing persecution in Myanmar and economic migrants from Bangladesh - are stranded in boats in the area.

More than 3,000 have landed in neighbouring Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.

Malaysia and Indonesia have begun searching for migrant boats in the past week.

Myanmar also rescued the first boat two days ago.

Malaysia and Indonesia have agreed to stop towing boats out to sea and will provide temporary shelter to those who have landed.

Thailand only said it would stop rejecting boats.

Two jihadist leaders killed in Mali, says France

French special forces have killed four jihadists, including two leaders, in a raid in north Mali, the French defence ministry says.

One of those killed was Amada Ag Hama, suspected of the kidnapping and murder of two French journalists in 2013.

He is said to be a commander of in al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

France sent troops into Mali two years ago when Islamist militants threatened the capital Bamako. Some 3,000 remain in the region combating terrorism.

The other leader killed was named as Ibrahim Ag Inawalen, from another al-Qaeda linked militant group, Ansar Dine.

Aside from the murders of Radio France International journalists Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon, Amada Ag Hama was also said to be involved in the death of aid worker Michel Germaneau and the abduction of four French nationals in Niger, both in 2010.

"France has a long memory," said Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius.

Mali suffered a coup in 2012. In the chaos that followed, Tuareg rebels seized control of the north, declaring independence, before being supplanted by Islamist militants.

Instability remains, despite the French intervention and the presence of the 11,000-strong UN peacekeeping force known as Minusma.

On Wednesday, an attacker opened fire on a UN residence in Bamako, injuring a guard.

UN demands access to Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus

The UN Security Council has demanded humanitarian access to the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk in Damascus.

One UN official described the situation for the 18,000 refugees there as "beyond inhumane".The situation has deteriorated since 1 April, when Islamic State launched an offensive.Palestinian militiamen opposed to the Syrian government and some Free Syrian Army fighters are leading the fight against the IS militants.

'This has to stop'The chair of the 15-member Security Council, Jordan's ambassador Dina Kawar, called for the "protection of civilians... humanitarian access... and life-saving assistance".Delivering a report to the council, Pierre Krahenbuhl, of the Palestinian Unwra relief agency, said the situation was "more desperate than ever".

Analysis: Jim Muir in Beirut

Because of its strategic location, the Syrian government has always feared Yarmouk might be used as a springboard for a rebel thrust into the heart of the capital.With some reports saying IS may now control as much as 90% of the area, that brings the militants closer than ever to the centre of Damascus.Government helicopters are reported to have been dropping barrel bombs on Yarmouk, although rebel groups accuse the regime of encouraging the spread of Islamic State, so it can dismiss the entire rebel movement as a bunch of terrorists.Ahmed Majdalani, an official with the Palestine Liberation Organisation, said a delegation was on its way to Damascus to discuss a humanitarian corridor with the Syrian government and Palestinian factions in the camp.

Iran nuclear talks: Rouhani vows to abide by deal

Iran's president has vowed it will abide by the terms of the preliminary nuclear agreement it signed with six world powers, so long as they do too.

"The world must know that we do not intend to cheat," Hassan Rouhani said in a televised address to the nation.

But Mr Rouhani warned that Iran would have other options if world powers "one day decide to follow a different path".

The framework deal signed on Thursday will see Iran curb nuclear activities in return for relief from sanctions.

Earlier Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that it posed a grave danger to the region, in particular his own country.

He said any compressive accord, due before 30 June, had to include a "clear and unambiguous Iranian recognition of Israel's right to exist".

"Israel will not accept an agreement which allows a country that vows to annihilate us to develop nuclear weapons," Mr Netanyahu asserted.

'Third way'

President Rouhani reiterated that Iran's nuclear programme was peaceful.

Mr Rouhani said the deal showed Iran "can have co-operation with the world"

The country was "not two-faced", he said, and would honour any final deal provided the P5+1 - the US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany - did the same.

"If the other side acts on its promises, Iran will abide by its promises. If, however, they one day decide to follow a different path, our nation too will be always free to make [another] choice."

Mr Rouhani also stressed that the world now accepted Iran had the right to enrich uranium on its own soil, and that enrichment was not a threat to anyone.

Iran nuclear talks: Obama hails 'historic' agreement

President Obama has hailed a deal restricting Iran's nuclear programme as a "historic understanding" which, if implemented, will make the world safer.

The framework agreement, struck after intensive talks, aims to prevent Tehran making a nuclear weapon in exchange for phased sanction relief.

Iran and the six world powers involved must now finalise the deal.

Iranians have been celebrating in the streets but Israel says the deal threatens its survival.

"This will be a long-term deal, that addresses each path to a potential Iranian nuclear bomb," the US President said in a statement after the deal was announced.

"If Iran cheats, the world will know it," he said, adding that the agreement was based not on trust but on "unprecedented verification". He said that if the deal is finalised, "we will be able to resolve one of the greatest threats to our security, and to do so peacefully".

Kenya attack: 147 dead in Garissa University assault

At least 147 people, mostly students, have been killed in an assault by al-Shabab militants on a university in north-eastern Kenya.

Heavily armed attackers stormed Garissa University early on Thursday, killing two security guards then firing indiscriminately on students.

Four of the gunman were eventually surrounded in a dormitory, and died when their suicide vests detonated.

It is the deadliest attack yet by al-Shabab.

The militants singled out Christians and shot them, witnesses said.

More than 500 students managed to escape, 79 of whom were injured. A fifth gunman has reportedly been arrested.

Eric Wekesa, a student at Garissa, told Reuters he locked himself in his room before eventually fleeing.

"What I managed to hear from them is 'We came to kill or finally be killed.' That's what they said."

"It was horrible, there was shooting everywhere," another student, Augustine Alanga told the BBC's Newsday programme

He said it was "pathetic" that the university was only guarded by two police officers.