Shropshire 9/11 parents: 'We're glad they killed bin Laden'

THE PARENTS of a Shropshire man who died in the September 11 attack on the World Trade Centre today said they were glad Osama bin Laden was dead.

Graham Berkeley was on board the second aircraft which crashed into the Twin Towers a decade ago. Today his mother Pauline, of Crocus Drive, Sutton Park, Shrewsbury, praised President Barack Obama for the operation which led to killing the world's most wanted man.

She said: "We were very shocked and really glad. It is great news that they have at last caught and killed him.

"We didn't want him in prison. I think they did the best thing and a wonderful job."

But she added that the death of bin Laden would not take away the pain the family suffered.

"We don't know where this word 'closure' comes from. We were grieving for a long time."

Graham, who attended Bayston Hill Junior School and The Priory School in Shrewsbury, was on his way to Los Angeles for a conference when his flight was hijacked.

America today said it was "inconceivable" that bin Laden did not have a support system in Pakistan which enabled him to remain in the country for long periods.

White House counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan confirmed Washington did not inform the Pakistanis of the US special forces raid until its troops were safely out of the country.

The disclosure that bin Laden was tracked to a large mansion complex in a garrison town close to Pakistan's leading defence academy again raised suspicions about the role played by the Pakistani intelligence services.

Mr Brennan said bin Laden must have enjoyed help from within Pakistan to have remained at large for so long, although he stopped short of accusing the Pakistanis of any official involvement.

"It is inconceivable that bin Laden did not have support system in the country that allowed him to remain there for extended period of time," he said.

Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari dismissed claims that his country harboured bin Laden as "baseless speculation".

Mr Zardari denied Pakistan "lacked vitality" in its fight against terrorism.

And he claimed his country was "perhaps the world's greatest victim of terrorism".

Prime Minister David Cameron last night spoke to Mr Zadari and prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani in an attempt to soothe tensions.

Downing Street said the Prime Minister, who also spoke to Afghan President Hamid Karzai, said Britain was committed to working "extremely closely" with both countries to counter the terrorist threat from al-Qaida and the Taliban.

Mr Cameron, who chaired a 45-minute meeting of the Government's Cobra emergencies committee, was due to update MPs on events in a Commons statement today.

Britain has followed the US in putting its embassies and military bases around the world on heightened alert amid fears of reprisals by al Qaida and its affiliates.

Foreign Secretary William Hague said al-Qaida would want to show it was still "in business", while CIA director Leon Panetta said the terrorists would "almost certainly" try to avenge their leader.

President Barack Obama - who personally authorised the mission to get bin Laden - had followed events in real-time from the White House situation room.

As well as bin Laden, who was shot in the head, one of his adult sons, two suspected al-Qaida couriers and a woman thought to be one of his wives died in the attack on the compound.

By Chris Burn