Osama bin Laden papers: top 5 revelations

A new trove of letters seized during the Osama bin Laden raid paint an intimate picture of the inner workings and struggles of Al Qaeda, from its dabbling in the stock market to practices that would make any Mafia don proud.

4. Misgivings about suicide bombing

Fayaz Aziz/REUTERS
Residents stand outside a closed gate, near the site of a suspected suicide bomb attack in the outskirts of Peshawar, Pakistan.

One letter to the leader of the Pakistani terrorist group Tehrik-e-Taliban, which was responsible for the shooting rampage in Mumbai, takes him to task for using citizens “as shields without basing their action on the Shari’a” law.

It also decries the “killing [of] the normal Muslims as a result of martyrdom operations that takes place in the marketplaces, mosques, roads, [and] assembly places.” Included in the letter is a “short list on what is acceptable and unacceptable on the subject of kidnapping.” It urges the emir to “take the necessary action to correct your actions and avoid these grave mistakes; otherwise we have to take decisive actions from our end.”

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