Pakistan arrests Osama bin Laden informants

Informants who helped the CIA track down Osama bin Laden have been arrested by Pakistan's intelligence service.

The owner of a safe house rented to the CIA to observe the terror boss's compound before the raid that killed him, as well as a "handful" of other Pakistanis, were seized by the military spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence.

It is not clear what charges the men face. US-Pakistani relations remained strained over the raid by Navy Seals on Pakistani territory. Officials said the arrests were the latest evidence of the fractured relationship between the nations.

During a visit to Pakistan by CIA director Leon Panetta last week officials refused to reverse a decision to cut the number of US troops allowed in the country.

A terrorist described as a key in the hunt for bin Laden has rejoined al Qaeda after the Bush administration released him from a secret CIA secret prison under pressure from Pakistan.

US intelligence officials said Hassan Ghul was returned to his native Pakistan, which had been demanding his release for two years, in 2006.
Pakistan held Ghul for a year - but then released him. He then returned to al Qaeda.