In brief: U.S. used lab in Afghanistan to confirm bin Laden’s DNA

Washington – Secret budget documents show that a U.S. military laboratory in Afghanistan analyzed DNA from Osama bin Laden’s corpse and confirmed his identify shortly after he was killed by a Navy SEAL team.

The Pentagon denied more than a year ago it had any records of these tests in a response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the Associated Press a day after President Barack Obama announced bin Laden’s death.

The Washington Post reported Thursday that classified intelligence budget files provided by National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden state that a forensic intelligence laboratory run by the Defense Intelligence Agency performed the DNA testing. The Post reported that the tests “provided a conclusive match.”

Indian Mujahideen co-founder turned over to authorities

Meerut, India – A militant who topped India’s most-wanted list and helped found one of the nation’s most infamous homegrown insurgent groups was apprehended on the border with Nepal, police said Thursday.

Yasin Bhatkal, 30, mastermind and a co-founder of the Indian Mujahideen, is wanted in connection with more than 40 bombings over the last decade.

Bhatkal, born Mohammed Ahmed Siddhibappa but widely known by his pseudonym, was tracked to Nepal by Indian intelligence agencies. The agencies negotiated with Katmandu to have him taken to their shared border, where he was formally arrested Wednesday night, Indian news reports said, quoting government sources.

Bhatkal is being interrogated amid heightened security in the northern state of Bihar, said state police chief Abhayanand.

Indian security agencies were treating the arrest as a major breakthrough in their bid to destroy the banned Indian Mujahideen, which is accused of carrying out bombings in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Pune and Jaipur in recent years.