After what amounted to a ten years long manhunt, Osama bin Laden was found and killed early on Monday morning, local time, in Abbottobad, Pakistan, by a small group of US military forces.
Obama Announces Death to Americans
President Barak Obama made the announcement on Sunday evening in the US, interrupting regularly scheduled broadcasts, saying that the most sought after enemy of the American people had finally been discovered and killed.
Spontaneous Celebrations Erupt Throughout Country
The response of the citizens was swift and strong, with spontaneous gatherings erupting in front of the White House in Washington, DC; at the site of ‘Ground Zero’ and in Times Square in New York; and in many other locations throughout the US.
Politicians, Democrats, Republicans and former US presidents all praised the operation, calling it an historic moment which has shown the world that persistence pays off and the US is relentless in its pursuit of justice.
The information which finally led to the one million dollar high-security luxury compound about an hour’s drive north of Islamabad, Pakistan, can be said to have begun years ago with interrogations of key figures in Al-Qaeda, bin Laden’s organization which has been responsible for numerous attacks on the US, other countries and most notoriously the September 11, 2000 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
Courier Spotted: Led CIA to bin Laden’s Hideout
A highly trusted courier for bin Laden was revealed through the interrogations, and through painstaking investigations, surveillance and follow up. The great breakthrough came last July, when Pakistani agents working for the CIA noticed the courier driving in the vicinity of Peshawar. After watching him closely for weeks, he finally drove to the huge compound in Abbottabad, which clearly pointed to something or someone big within, perhaps even bin Laden.
Helicopters Descend on Secret Compound
After eight months of painstaking planning, practice, and evaluating options for an attack and the what-ifs of failure, the decision was finally made to send in 79 Navy Seal commandos in four helicopters. The helicopters descended just past midnight on the compound on a moonless night, waking the residents. A firefight ensued in which five people were killed and none of the US soldiers were injured. One of the dead was a woman used by one of the men as a human shield, unsuccessfully. One of bin Laden’s sons was killed, along with the courier and the courier’s brother. The commandos were prepared to take bin Laden alive, but when he resisted them, the soldiers returned fire and killed him.
Identity Confirmed
A photo was taken of bin Laden’s face and uploaded to a facial recognition computer program, where his identity was confirmed to a degree of 95% certainty. A DNA sample was also taken and matched with bin Laden’s family member’s DNA, giving further proof of 99.9% that the man they had killed was truly bin Laden. By 1:10am the helicopters left the compound, leaving several women and nine children ages 2 to 12 years old behind.
Osama bin Laden Buried at Sea
The commandos took possession of the body, flew him to an air craft carrier, performed a ceremony in keeping with Muslim tradition and buried him at sea. The US decided that burial at sea would avoid the potential problem of creating a holy shrine for his followers to flock to, but his burial at sea was done within 24 hours, also to adhere to Muslim custom.