The Pakistani commission investigating the 2 May US commando operation in which Osama bin Laden was killed in Abbottabad has interviewed chief of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and family members of the slain Al Qaeda founder, according to an official statement.

A serving ISI chief appearing before a civilian panel is among rare occurrences in Pakistan.

The statement issued on Wednesday said members of the commission also conducted “exhaustive interviews” of the three widows and two daughters of Bin Laden.

Pakistan took custody of the widows, two Saudis and one Yemeni, and 10 children of Bin Laden after US Navy SEALs killed him and flew off with his body.

According to sources, senior ISI officials, including Director-General Lt-Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha, told the commission that they knew nothing about the presence of Bin Laden in a three-storey compound in Abbottabad near the premises of Pakistan Military Academy.

The ISI chief said the army didn`t have advance information about the US operation. “The Abbottabad operation was not known to any tier in the Pakistan Army,” he was quoted as saying.

The Abbottabad cantonment only had training institutions and no combat troops were deployed there, the ISI official added.

The commission, headed by Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal and comprising Abbas Khan, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi and Lt-Gen (retd) Nadeem Ahmed, is expected to interview Lt-Gen Pasha again on Thursday.