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On the night of the infiltration, two dozen SEALs flew in using two helicopters, beneath the radar and varying routes to avoid detection. With the clock ticking and concerns that the Pakistani military may be scrambling aircraft to intercept the top-secret raid, the US troops now had to move quickly. A "treasure trove" of computers, CDs, data sticks, DVDs and paperwork was quickly pulled together to provide intelligence. They lugged out about 100 thumb drives, DVDs and computer disks, along with 10 computer hard drives and five computers to be pored over by computer forensic experts and intelligence officers for evidence of future plots and clues to the shape of the organisation Bin Laden was leaving behind. There were unconfirmed reports that Bin Laden was shot through the left eye and it is likely the troops would have used low velocity ammunition, which does not pass through bodies.
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The woman who ended up being killed had been used as a shield by "a military age male" who was firing from behind her, they said. When the commandos reached the top floor they entered a room and saw Osama bin Laden with an AK-47 and a Makarov pistol in arm's reach. "He was engaged in a firefight with those that entered the area of the house he was in," said John Brennan, White House security adviser. Bin Laden's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, became leader of al Qaeda after bin Laden's death. On July 31, 2022, he was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan, ending a two decade-long manhunt.
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Additionally, the compound was designed to obscure lines of sight from multiple directions. As the raid commenced, the tail of one of the helicopters grazed the compound wall, forcing it into a “soft crash” landing that fortunately did not result in major injuries, although the helicopter itself had to be destroyed so none of its tech would fall into the wrong hands. Over the next few months, the CIA used informants, surveillance and other intelligence gathering measures to arrive at the conclusion that bin Laden and his family were hiding out in the compound – but up until the attack, there was no hard proof that bin Laden was present, only the best guess available. The raid had begun on a moonless night, as highly modified "stealth" helicopters designed to avoid detection flew in secret through Pakistan airspace across the farmlands of the Orash valley towards their target. Osama bin Laden's daughter cradled the head of her wounded mother in the room where the al-Qaida leader had just been killed. Bin Laden was one of more than 50 children of Muhammad bin Laden, a self-made billionaire who, after immigrating to Saudi Arabia from Yemen as a labourer, rose to direct major construction projects for the Saudi royal family.
The killing of Osama bin Laden: how the White House changed its story
The Bin Laden family on the run - BBC.com
The Bin Laden family on the run.
Posted: Sat, 05 May 2012 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Tonight, President Obama addressed the Nation to announce that the United States has killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda. Watch his full remarks here or read his full remarks below, and learn more from the transcript of the White House briefing call afterwards. In any case, there was no doubt about the outcome of the mission when the SEAL team leader radioed in, "For God and country -- Geronimo, Geronimo, Geronimo," thus declaring the raid a success. News reports described bin Laden’s compound as surrounded with barbed wire and 18-foot walls.
Also Bin Laden may have no longer felt safe in Sudan, where he had already escaped at least one assassination attempt that he believed to have been the work of the Egyptian or Saudi regimes, and paid for by the CIA. Later that month al-Qaeda released a final audio message said to be from bin Laden, purportedly recorded by him shortly before he was killed. In the message, bin Laden praised the Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings of early 2011 and called on al-Qaeda followers to help people struggling against unjust governments. On April 29, 2011, President Barack Obama authorized a small special operations team, known as SEAL Team Six, to carry out a raid on the compound.
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Pakistani security officials arriving at the scene after the US raid found a spartan house. Each bedroom not only had an attached bathroom, which is common here, but also its own kitchen, an unusual feature that would have allowed its occupants to live independently in each bedroom. In a photograph, seen by the Guardian, of one of the bathrooms on the first floor there is a chair with the middle removed, which seemed to have been designed to allow a sick or elderly person to sit on the toilet more easily. Security officials speculated this may have ben the bedroom of Bin Laden, who has suffered for many years with kidney trouble. The woman lay quietly, her head in the girl's lap, though she seemed conscious, the officials told the Guardian.
His body, identified visually at the site of the raid, was taken out of Pakistan by U.S. forces for examination and DNA identification and soon after was given a sea burial. Hours after its confirmation, bin Laden’s death was announced by Obama in a televised address. Several days after Obama’s announcement, al-Qaeda released a statement publicly acknowledging bin Laden’s death and vowing revenge.
The Bin Ladens’ life on the run - Al Jazeera English
The Bin Ladens’ life on the run.
Posted: Mon, 08 Jul 2013 07:00:00 GMT [source]
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On 2 May 2011, Bin Laden was killed by US special operations forces at his compound in Abbottabad. His corpse was buried at the Arabian Sea and he was officially succeeded by his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri on 16 June 2011. Al-Arabiya, a Middle East news channel, reported that Bin Laden's 12-year-old daughter had told Pakistani investigators the US forces captured her father alive and shot him dead in front of family members. An official of the ISI, the Pakistani intelligence agency, told the Guardian the girl had seen her father killed but did not suggest Bin Laden had been captured at that point. On Wednesday officials gave the New York Times the most detailed version yet. They said that when the commandos moved into the main house they saw the courier's brother, who they believed was preparing to fire a weapon.
Osama bin Laden lived in two rooms for five years, wife says
In 1995 the EIJ attempted to assassinate the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Trusted Britannica articles, summarized using artificial intelligence, to provide a quicker and simpler reading experience. Still, SEAL Team Six’s bold raid to take down bin Laden was an extraordinary operation that most experts regard as a resounding success.
By late 2010, analysts were able to link the courier to a large, highly-secured compound in Abbottabad, a town about 35 miles north of Islamabad. Get HISTORY’s most fascinating stories delivered to your inbox three times a week. Explore this collection of extraordinary documentary films about one of the most challenging days in U.S. history.
It is believed that the compound was owned by a shipping magnate based out of Waziristan. The raid also unearthed a family video from bin Laden’s son Hamza bin Laden’s wedding in Iran. “The only picture we had of Hamza prior to the video’s release was of him as a child. Hamza was being groomed for a leadership position, so seeing him as an adult was very valuable,” says Roggio. The residents burned their garbage rather than putting it out for collection. Bin Laden’s son Khalid did much of the maintenance, and the compound had chickens, goats, rabbits, honeybees, cow and kitchen gardens.
By the time of Muhammad’s death in an airplane accident in 1967, his company had become one of the largest construction firms in the Middle East, and the bin Laden family had developed a close relationship with the Saudi royal family. Each floor had several rooms, and in total, the house had nine bedrooms, eight bathrooms, and two kitchens (via History). The third floor is where bin Laden lived and spent the majority of his time, restricting himself to just two rooms, per The Guardian. The wedding guest list also proved revealing, as it included multiple members of al Qaeda’s inner circle. Hamza married the daughter of Abu Muhammad Al-Masri, another al Qaeda leader, and guests included Mohammed Showqi al-Islambouli, whose brother Khalid assassinated former Egyptian President Anwar-el Sadat.
Bin Laden declared two fatawa, the first in August 1996, and the second in February 1998, declaring holy war against the United States. He orchestrated the 1998 United States embassy bombings in East Africa. He was then listed on the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists and Most Wanted Fugitives lists.
A White House official described the image on Bin Laden as "gruesome" and said that it would not be released. While ascending to Bin Laden's quarters, the Seals were confronted with a family scene that soon turned to carnage. The terrorist's daughter was immediately injured by a piece of shrapnel or flying debris to her ankle or foot, according to Pakistan intelligence, suggesting the commandos may have thrown in a grenade before entering the room.
Graphic pictures also circulated of three dead men covered in blood, two in white salwar kameez and one in a white T-shirt, taken by Pakistani officials shortly after dawn. While it was members of the special military group that performed the operation that killed Osama bin Laden, it was American intelligence officials who led them to his location. “Right up until the last minute, we couldn’t confirm he was there,” recalled Clapper, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant general who served as president Obama’s top intelligence official from 2010 until 2017.
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