Osama bin Laden killed in Pakistan

02/05/2011| IslamWeb

Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda has been killed in a firefight with American forces in Pakistan and quickly buried at sea, according to US officials. He was tracked down in a custom-built mansion in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad, 61km north of the capital, Islamabad.

Confronted by elite US forces who dropped by helicopter into the compound, bin Laden was shot dead in a 40-minute operation under the cover of night, US officials said.

Four people, including one of bin Laden's sons, were also killed in the operation. After the firefight, US officials said they used "multiple methods" to positively identify bin Laden's remains.

Obama administration officials said on Monday that DNA tests confirmed the death, providing a match with 99.9 per cent confidence.

The US is believed to have collected DNA samples from bin Laden family members in the years since the September 11, 2001, attacks.

Unnamed US officials said bin Laden's body was quickly buried in the waters of the north Arabian Sea after the operation, the AP news agency reported.

According to Al Jazeera's Rosiland Jordan in Washington, the operation had been in the making for the last nine or 10 months.

Patty Culhane, another Al Jazeera correspondent, said US authorities received intelligence last September and were able to track bin Laden down through his couriers.They followed them to the compound.

As news of bin Laden's death spread, crowds gathered to celebrate outside the White House in Washington, DC, as well as in New York.

Elsewhere, the announcement of bin Laden's death was met with varied responses.

In Afghanistan, Qais Azimy, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Kabul, said Afghan officials described bin Laden's killing as a "symbolic victory", since he was no longer directly connected to the group's field operations.

PHOTO CAPTION

An undated picture of the Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden

Agencies