The Pak doctor who helped CIA confirm Laden's hideout

Pakistani doctor Shakeel Afridi, who helped the CIA to gather information about Osama bin Laden through a fake vaccination program also assisted in the final confirmation of the terror leader's hideout in Abbottabad, it has emerged.

Dr Afridi angered Pakistan's military authorities by helping the CIA organise a fake vaccination program to extract DNA from inside the bin Laden compound in Abbottabad.

The program failed, but Dr Afridi provided another vital clue, Pakistani intelligence officials told The London Times.

According to the New York Post, Dr Afridi obtained a telephone number for, and spoke to the compound's putative owner, Abu Ahmed al Kuwaiti, who was bin Laden's right-hand man.

The number Dr Afridi obtained enabled al Kuwaiti's voice to be recorded and provided the final confirmation that the man seen by drones in the compound was bin Laden.

Dr Afridi disappeared after bin Laden was killed in a US raid one year ago in the walled compound.

He is currently in the custody of Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence agency.