WASHINGTON, July 26: The United States stationed warships and submarines off the Pakistani coast for two years to kill Osama bin Laden but failed to target him, says a congressional report released earlier this week.

The American vessels, equipped with cruise missiles, were deployed in the Arabian Sea near Pakistan soon after the bombing of two US embassies in East Africa in August 1988 that killed 224 people. The US government blamed Al Qaeda for the attack.

“President (Clinton) ordered two submarines loaded with cruise missiles on perpetual deployment off the coast of Pakistan for that very purpose,” former national security adviser Sandy Berger told a special congressional inquiry into the 9-11 terrorist attacks.

The report says that the US navy did launch a series of strikes from these vessels but they failed to hit Osama and his close aides.

Finally, US intelligence agencies concluded that they did not have enough reliable information to target Al Qaeda’s chief and the submarines and warships were removed. The 800-page report alleges missed opportunities, poor management and sheer incompetence on the part of US agencies for their failure to kill Osama before 9/11.