CIA chief to brief lawmakers on Osama

WASHINGTON: CIA chief Leon Panetta will brief lawmakers behind closed doors Tuesday on the weekend US special forces raid that left terror mastermind Osama bin Laden dead, officials said.

Panetta was expected to brief members of the House of Representatives at 3:00 pm (1900 GMT), along with other officials whose names were not immediately available, according to several congressional aides.

US President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and other top officials notified key lawmakers late Sunday of the daring raid at bin Laden's fortified and secretive compound in Pakistan's garrison town of Abbottabad.

But senators and representatives have said they want more information on key issues, including whether Pakistan knew that the world's most wanted man had set up shop a two-hour drive from its capital Islamabad. (AFP)