Video: 80 dead as Pakistan Taliban claims revenge

Open in new window

2. Transcript of: 80 dead as Pakistan Taliban claims revenge

   Advertise | AdChoices

   BRIAN WILLIAMS, anchor: We turn now to news from overseas tonight. And this morning we all woke up to news of a huge attack today in Pakistan on a US-backed military training center that may have been in retaliation for bin Laden 's death. NBC 's Peter Alexander following all of it from Islamabad again tonight. Hey, Peter , good evening.

   PETER ALEXANDER reporting: Brian , good evening to you again. This was just a gruesome attack, at least 80 people killed and another 140 injured in this attack. And tonight the Pakistani people are bracing for more. It's the kind of violence al-Qaeda warned would follow the death of their leader Osama bin Laden , back-to-back attacks shortly after dawn. Two suicide bombers, both riding motorcycles, police say, targeted newly trained cadets at this paramilitary center in northwestern Pakistan as the recruits were leaving for a break with their families.

   Unidentified Man:

   ALEXANDER: 'It was the Americans who killed Osama ,' this man says, 'and the blood of our people is being spilled. Why? Why is this happening to us?' To maximize the death toll , police say, the bombers' explosive vests were packed with ball bearings and nails. Claiming responsibility, the Pakistani Taliban , close allies of al-Qaeda , fighting to bring down the Pakistani government and to oppose their own Islamist rule. But US officials are skeptical these attacks are reprisals and warn militants will use bin Laden 's death as an excuse for more violence in an already volatile region. Pakistani officials say today's attacks illustrate the sacrifice their nation nation has made in the war on terror , the tens of thousands killed here. As scrutiny and suspicion of Pakistan intensify following the intelligence failure that allowed bin Laden to hide here for years, US military officials tell NBC News American interrogators interviewed bin Laden 's three widows shortly after their detention. The women offered no new information. And, according to US officials, their answers sounded rehearsed. But a senior Pakistani official tells NBC News during a briefing to parliament today, Pakistan 's intelligence chief said one of the wives revealed that in more than five years, bin Laden never once left his Abbottabad compound, living upstairs in just two rooms. The same wife told interrogators she only left the hideout when she was sick to visit at doctor, and even then only did so accompanied by one of bin Laden 's trusted couriers. And tonight another detail from inside Osama bin Laden 's compound has been leaked. US intelligence officials confirmed to NBC News that the Navy SEALs found pornographic videos. But tonight it's unclear whether they belonged to

   bin Laden or to somebody else. Brian: Peter Alexander in Islamabad tonight. Peter , thanks for your reporting.

   WILLIAMS:

   Show transcript