Calling it a virtual terror "treasure trove", US today began scouring seized computers, hard discs and DVDs to unravel Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden's links in Pakistan and clues that could lead them to other dreaded militant commanders.
"We are surprised by the depth and breadth of what we have," CIA chief Leon Panetta said in his first word about five computers, 10 hard drives and more than 100 storage devices, such as DVDs and removable flash drives, seized by Navy SEALs from the Abbottabad mansion, where they shot dead Bin Laden on Monday in a special operation.
"When a mid level terrorist is captured, his bosses know exactly what information might be compromised and can change plans," Panetta said, pointing out "when the boss is taken, everything might be compromised but nobody knows for sure."
The documents, US officials said could also provide details of Al Qaeda's links to other terror groups like the Taliban, Haqqani network, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad.
While Al Qaeda's links with Taliban and Haqqani network are "known and established", US officials said, the thrust of the search would be now to unravel the extent of Qaeda's ties with groups like LeT.
CIA chief said that a top level task force of intelligence men, military data experts and even computer experts had been constituted and had begun work to sift through material taken from Osama's bed room and the complex.
Bin Laden and his men, did not get to destroy equipment or documents as the strike team closed in on them.
"Osama was not found destroying documents. It is unclear if others made an effort to destroy data," Wall Street Journal reported.
"It appears that Bin Laden and his courier cum body guards were more interested in fighting there way out, then destroying anything," officials said.
The terror discs and hard drives are being catalogued and processed and US intelligence officers are subjecting it to forensic and fingerprints analysis.
Elaborating on the seizures, the White House spokesman, Jay Carney, told reporters that experts were giving top priority in the search to three areas to get a vital insight about Al Qaeda's operational plans.
First, of all, and most important evidence of any planned new attack, second would be information that could lead to other high value targets and other networks that exist that maybe we don't know about.
Thirdly, he said, American experts would be looking at what sustained bin Laden and Al Qaeda network in Pakistan and his links in the country, apparently referring to efforts to unmask Bin Laden's official links if any in the country.
The deputy national security adviser John Brennan, said, that the SEALS had taken advantage of their time on the compound to make sure that they were able to acquire whatever material they thought was appropriate and what was needed.
"We are trying to determine exactly the worth of what we have been able to pick up. And its not necessarily quantity, frequently it is the quality."
US officials and lawmakers have recently expressed concern over sprouting of LeT terror camps in Pakistan's restive tribal belt in the northwest and the expansion of the group's activities to Afghanistan and terror campaigns on the European mainland.
The CIA has established a task force to study the material recovered from the mansion in Abbottabad.
