Sohair Athar (@ReallyVirtual)Sohair Athar --- @ReallyVirtual on Twitter --- is, in his words, "an IT consultant taking a break from the rat-race by hiding in the mountains with his laptops". His current hideout is in Abbottabad, about 80 miles from Lahore in Pakistan.
Athar was not the only person, however, who tried to find seclusion in the area --- a Mr Osama Bin Laden was also looking for some peace and quiet.
Late on Sunday night, Athar became the first witness --- although he never realised it --- to the US operation to kill Osama Bin Laden:
Helicopter hovering above Abbottabad at 1AM (is a rare event)....
Go away helicopter - before I take out my giant swatter :-/ ...
A huge window shaking bang here in Abbottabad Cantt. I hope its not the start of something nasty :-S ...
All silent after the blast, but a friend heard it 6 km away too... the helicopter is gone too....
http://bit.ly/ljB6p6 seems like my giant swatter worked ! [The link is to a blog that reported, "A big blast is heard near the biggest military academy of Kakool, in Abbottabad . People are saying that it is due to a helicopter crash near the Kakool academy's residential academy. Security forces have surrounded the place and investigations are underway."] ....
The few people online at this time of the night are saying one of the copters was not Pakistani....
Funny, moving to Abbottabad was part of the 'being safe' strategy....
Technically, it is unidentified until identified, and it is a flying object, so year, why the hell not, we have seen weirder stuff....
The abbottabad helicopter/UFO was shot down near the Bilal Town area, and there's report of a flash. People saying it could be a drone....
People are saying it was not a technical fault and it was shot down. I heard it CIRCLE 3-4 times above, sounded purposeful....
It was too noisy to be a spy craft, or, a very poor spy craft it was....
Three hours ago, Athar resumed Tweeting, still unaware or unconvinced --- despite President Obama's announcement --- of the US operation against Bin Laden: "Interesting rumors in the otherwise uneventful Abbottabad air today....Leave Abbottabad alone, Osama and Obama...."
An hour ago, however, the situation sunk in: "Uh oh, now I'm the guy who liveblogged the Osama raid without knowing it....And here come the mails from the mainstream media....*sigh*"