He was not living in a cave when he died, but in a million-dollar mansion with twelve-foot walls just 40 miles from the Pakistani capital, where U.S. forces killed him Sunday.
The U.S. had been monitoring the compound in Abbottabad for months after receiving a tip in August that Bin Laden might be seeking shelter there.
He had long been said to be in the mountainous region along the Afghanistan, Pakistan border, hiding in a cave as the U.S. sought to kill him with drone strikes from above. Instead, he was in a house eight times larger than its neighbors, with walls more than 12 feet tall and valued at $1 million.
The house had no phone or television and the residents burned their trash. The house had high windows and few points of access, and U.S. officials concluded it had been built to hide someone.
According to U.S. officials, two U.S. helicopters swept into the compound at 1:30 and 2:00 a.m. Sunday morning. Twenty to 25 U.S. Navy Seals under the command of the Joint Special Operations Command in cooperation with the CIA stormed the compound and engaged Bin Laden and his men in a firefight, killed Bin Laden and all those with him.
This April 1998 file photo shows exiled al... View Full Size
This April 1998 file photo shows exiled al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. A person familiar with developments on Sunday, May 1, 2011 says bin Laden is dead and the U.S. has the body.
One of the U.S. helicopters was damaged but not destroyed during the operation, and U.S. forces elected to destroy it themselves with explosives.
The Americans took Bin Laden's body into custody after the firefight and confirmed his identity. According to a senior administration official, the U.S. is "ensuring it is handled in accordance with Islamic practice and tradition. It's something we take seriously and therefore it's being handled in an appropriate manner."
According to Pakistani officials, the operation was a joint U.S.-Pakistani operation, but U.S. officials said only U.S. personnel were involved in the raid.
"The United States has conducted an operation that has killed Osama Bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda and a terrorist responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent men, women and children," said President Obama Sunday night in an address to the nation. "A small team of Americans carried out with the operation with extraordinary courage. After a firefight, they killed Osama Bin Laden, and took custody of his body."
Abbottabad is a city of 90,000 in the Orash Valley, north of Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, and east of Peshawar. It is 40 miles by air from Islamabad. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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May this be the long awaited peace in the middle east and the adjournin states! Amen!!!
ReplyDeleteWell done us officials, well done barak obama
ReplyDeleteThe greatest world dangerous man was at hand yesterday well done to u.s army and obama. laden has paid for all the damage his has done!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThe situation should be handled to avoid having a generational fight with the surviving children of Osama Bin Laden. A dead man does not talk, it would have been better for them to know the motives behind the September 11, 2001 attack and his collaborators in the US intelligence. So it was a lie that he was living in caves. So much for the phenomenon called Osama Bin Laden whose name sounded much like Obama
ReplyDeleteGood Job!!!nemesis has eventually caught up with this evil genius! Abeg Nigerian govt should not spare the lives of people who have similar trait with this Osama devil. E.g, Rev. King and all those involved in the killing of those innocent coppers. Why should we spare their lives when human lives does not mean anything to them?!.
ReplyDeleteIn as much as we have mourned the thousands of people this man has slain, we should alos not rejoice at the death of this man, he was a human being and we are not God.
ReplyDeleteOnly Allah know the truth.
ReplyDelete