http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/national/man-who-live-tweeted-bin-laden-raid-talks-to-abc15
Man who live tweeted bin Laden raid talks to ABC15
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Posted: 10:58 PM
Last Updated: 19 minutes ago
The man who unknowingly gave the public the first play-by-play of Osama bin Laden’s last moments told ABC15 he didn’t know anything about the compound where bin Laden was living but heard a lot of activity the night bin Laden was killed.
Sohaib Athar, an IT consultant, lived a few miles away from the compound in Abbottaad, Pakistan.
On the morning of the attack, Athar jumped on Twitter and logged a first-hand account of what he heard right outside his windows as U.S. special forces moved in on the home.
His first tweet read: "Helicopter hovering above Abbottabad at 1AM (is a rare event)."
A short time later he wrote: “A huge window shaking bang here in Abbottabad Cantt. I hope its not the start of something nasty."
It turns out, it was the end of bin Laden’s run.
After his tweets went viral, the number of his followers skyrocketed and he took notice tweeting: “Uh oh, now I'm the guy who liveblogged the Osama raid without knowing it.”
I talked with Athar via e-mail Monday.
When asked what it was like to witness a part of history, he jokingly replied, “tiresome?” He went on to say, “Real history will be made the day these wars end.”
Athar said it was “ironic” that bin Laden lived so close to him, because he told ABC15, “I moved with my family from Lahore, a terrorist favorite attack place, to Abbottabad to get away from all that.”
Now, Athar said he’s trying to escape from the sudden, overwhelming attention he has received and even tweeted a plea that said: “Bin Laden is dead. I didn't kill him. Please let me sleep now.”