Pakistani Government Requisitions Bin Laden Plot

A man takes a picture of his friends on the demolished site of the compound of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad in May.

ISLAMABAD -- Pakistani authorities have assumed ownership of the land on which Osama bin Laden's house stood until its demolition earlier this year.

After the Al-Qaeda chief was killed by U.S. forces in May 2011, authorities destroyed the compound in Abbottabad in February, fearing it could become a shrine to Al-Qaeda sympathizers.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province Minister for Religious Affairs Nimroz Khan told RFE/RL that the plot of land had been declared government property.

Khan said the authorities were considering using the land to build a school or welfare center.

The provincial government requisitioned the land after publishing notices in national newspapers asking for any objections to the land being declared government property.

However, no one claimed the property.

With reporting by AFP