Pakistani man accidentally tweets Osama Bin Laden raid

There's only one news item dominating the cycle today, and that's the death of Osama Bin Laden.

We've already covered the news, but one titbit that caught Sleuth's attention was the case of a Pakistani programmer who lived nearby. He was on Twitter at the time of the attack and his tweet stream makes remarkable reading.

Sohaib Athar, a 33 year-old computer programmer from Abbottabad, was on Twitter when helicopters carrying members of the US Naval Special Warfare Development Group, aka SEAL Team Six, came overhead.

"Go away helicopter - before I take out my giant swatter :-/" he tweeted.

Shortly afterwards he reported a large explosion that shook the windows. Then power was cut to the area, although this isn't unusual, he commented.

One of the helicopters was reported as shot down, although the US says it was hit by mechanical difficulties and blown up by the crew, and Athar noted that his earlier joke might have been in poor taste.

He said that the army had cordoned off the area and was conducting house to house searches. There was widespread confusion as to what exactly had happened, some locals reporting that a drone had been shot down.

As the news was announced he realised what had happened and his Twitter feed came to light as the unwitting witness to the story of the year. Skype was going insane, he reported, shortly after the official announcement, and the amount of interest was shocking.

"I am JUST a tweeter, awake at the time of the crash. Not many twitter users in Abbottabad, these guys are more into Facebook. That's all," he said.

Unfortunately Athar's account now appears to have been hacked, and is posting links to spam messages. Nevertheless, if genuine, it is a fascinating example of the reach of social media as a global witness.