New Delhi:
The United States has refrained from drawing a parallel between 9/11 and the deadly Mumbai attacks and also declined to commit if India had the right to go on a "hot pursuit" against 26/11 suspects in Pakistan like the American strike that killed Osama bin Laden.
The Obama administration however said the attack on bin Laden's home on Sunday last in Abbottabad deep inside Pakistan that eliminated the 9/11 mastermind was clearly unique in the history of the US and the history of the world.
"I don't want to speculate too broadly about an operation that was clearly unique in the history of the US and the history of the world, where we had an individual who was possibly the most wanted man in the world and had perpetrated heinous crimes against not only American citizens but citizens around the globe," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said in Washington.
He was responding to a question if the US policy of "right to self-defence" applies to other countries including India as the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attacks are roaming freely inside Pakistan.
"I don't want to draw too broadly a picture here. What we've said all along is that this was an individual where, when we had actionable intelligence against him, we acted upon that because we believed he was a direct and imminent threat to the United States," Toner said.
Toner said he is aware of all those terrorism-related cases in India including the attack on the Indian Parliament and the Mumbai terrorist attack.
"Our counterterrorism cooperation both with India and with Pakistan is ongoing and we believe that it's directed at exactly these kinds of elements," he said.
Pakistan-based terror outfits have been accused of planning, facilitating and financing the Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people.
The Washington Post reported that the CIA maintained a safe house near Abbottabad town for a small team of spies who conducted extensive surveillance on bin Laden's compound for months before President Barack Obama signed an order to kill the most-wanted terrorist on April 29.
"The CIA maintained a safe house in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad for a small team of spies who conducted extensive surveillance over a period of months on the compound where Osama bin Laden was killed by US Special Operations forces this week", the newspaper said quoting US officials.
It was also being reported that the one million USD Abbottabad compound, used by bin Laden as a safe hideout for years will be demolished soon by Pakistani security agencies so that it does not become a "sacred building for jihadis."
The compound, located about 800 yards from the Pakistan Military Academy, has been sealed by the army to gather any information that was left after a US special forces team killed the world's most-wanted terrorist.
"Like we have done in the past, we will also raze to the ground this building so that it should not become a sacred building for the jihadis," an unnamed source from a security agency was quoted as saying by The News daily today.