Tuesday, May 3, 2011

IT expert who liveblogged Osama raid by chance 1

IT expert who liveblogged Osama raid by chance 1


IT expert who liveblogged in New Delhi - Little knowing that he was following a historic moment, an I-T expert in Abbottabad in Pakistan tweeted details of the covert US operation, which killed al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, some eight hours before the formal announcement of his death.

Sohaib Akhtar tweeted the first tweet of the day at one in the morning (Pakistan time) saying "Helicopters hovering above Abbottabad at 1 AM (is a rare event)."

Akhtar, whose profile on the micro blogging site describes him as "an IT consultant taking a break from the rat-race by hiding in the mountains with his laptops" did not realise that he was not the only one "hiding" in those hills, and within the vicinity was world's most wanted terrorist Osama Bin Laden, who was living in a mansion close by.


Within minutes, Akhtar who was apparently angry over power cuts and sound of chopper in his area tweeted, "Go away Helicopter - before I take out my giant swatter." "A huge window shaking bang here in Abbottabad Cantt. I hope its not the start of something nasty," feared Akhtar after hearing a huge explosion in the vicinity.

The reactions to his tweets show that locales were worried about some untoward developments which may be unfolding without realising that events of the night will bring quite township of Abbottabad on front-page headlines of newspapers across the globe.

One Hania Ahmed also tweeted about a big-blast in Abbottabad and expressed apprehensions if everything was fine in the city.


An hour later, about 2 AM Pakistan time, Akhtar posted that a "helicopter/UFO" was shot down over Bilal Town area. He clarified to one his followers on twitter that it was not a fault which brought down the helicopter and posted "people are saying it was not a technical fault and it was shot down. I heard it circle 3-4 times above, sounded purposeful."

While President Barrack Obama's was announcing the death of mastermind of 9/11 terror attacks on World Trade Centre in a special operation, Akhtar said that some families have been killed during the helicopter "accident".

His posts on the twitter describe that the area was cordoned off by Army and there were several traffic jams resulting from travel restrictions and cordoning of area by the Armed forces.

After the announcement, Akhtar could not hide his amusement saying "Uh oh, now I'm the guy who liveblogged the Osama raid without knowing it."

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