ISI claims it tipped off CIA on Osama hideout

"The lead and the information actually came from US," a senior official of the Inter-Services Intelligence told Washington Post, in what the paper said was a push for recognition ahead of the anniversary of the stealth raid that killed bin Laden.

The official claimed that it was ISI which had provided CIA with a cellphone number that eventually led to an al-Qaeda courier Abu Ahmad al-Kuwaiti, the paper said.

"Any hit on al-Qaeda anywhere in the world as happened with our help," the official said.

"They knew who the number belonged to," the official said, adding that he had worked closely with the CIA and turned over thousands of suspect numbers. "But after that, their cooperation with us ended."

"It is the story of an extreme trust deficit and betrayal," the official lamented.

But the Post said that US officials disputed the ISI version.

"The fact is, our knowledge of the number didn't come from them telling us about it," the paper quoted US officials as saying.