Contrary to speculation that Osama bin Laden was in a remote tribal area, he was instead found in an affluent suburb of Islamabad The trail that led the CIA to Osama bin Laden began with his most trusted courier. It had taken the CIA years to discover first his name and then the home where he was hiding the al-Qaida leader. But it took only 40 minutes on Sunday for US special forces to kill both the courier and Bin Laden. Contrary to repeated speculation over the past decade that Bin Laden was living in one of the remote tribal areas of Pakistan or even across the border in Afghanistan, the al-Qaida leader was found in an affluent suburb of Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad. Senior US administration officials, briefing journalists in a late-night teleconference, said that after 9/11 the CIA chased various leads about Bin Laden’s inner circle, in particular his couriers. One of these couriers came in for special attention, mentioned by detainees at Guantánamo Bay by his nom de guerre. He was said to be a protege of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the 9/11 mastermind, and one of the few couriers Bin Laden trusted. Officials said they were initially unable to identify him but finally did so four years ago. They did not disclose his name to reporters on Sunday. Two years ago, the CIA found the rough location where the courier and his brother lived in Pakistan, and on August last year they narrowed it down to a compound in Abbottabad, an affluent area about 35 miles north of Islamabad that had been founded as a British garrison town in the 1840s and named after its first deputy commissioner, Major James Abbott. They realised immediately this was no normal residence. The walls of the 3,000 sq ft compound were 12-18ft high, topped with barbed wire. There were two security gates, and access to the compound was severely restricted. The main part of the residence was three storeys high but had few windows, and a third-floor terrace was shielded by a privacy wall. Built around five years ago, it was valued at about $1m but had no phone or internet connection. The two brothers had no known source of income, adding to CIA suspicions. The CIA learned too that there was a family living with them, and that the composition of this family matched Bin Laden’s. Local suspicions were understood to have been aroused by the fact that the residents of the compound burned their rubbish rather than putting it out for collection. Salman Riaz, a film actor, said that five months ago he and a crew tried to do some filming next to the house, but were told to stop by two men who came out. “They told me that this is haram (forbidden) in Islam,” he said. He did not know that he had stumbled across a bespoke terrorist hideaway “custom-built to hide someone of significance”, according to a US official. By September, the CIA had determined there was a “strong possibility” that the hideout was Bin Laden’s, and by February, they were confident they had the right location. In March Barack Obama began chairing a series of five national security meetings. At the last of these, on Friday 29 April, while the world’s attention was on the royal wedding taking place in London, he gave the order to mount an operation. At that meeting, at 8.20am in the diplomatic room at the White House, Obama met his national security adviser Thomas Donilon, counter-terrorism adviser John O Brennan, and other senior national security aides to go through the detailed plan to attack the compound and sign the formal orders authorising it, the New York Times reported. “We shared our intelligence on this compound with no other country, including Pakistan,” a senior administration official told the paper. Only a tiny handful of people within the administration were aware of the operation. Obama spent part of Sunday on the golf course, the Associated Press reported, but cut short his round to return to the White House for a meeting where he and top national security aides reviewed final preparations for the raid. At around 1.15am local time on Monday, Abbottabad residents became aware that something was happening. “Helicopter hovering above Abbottabad at 1am (is a rare event),” tweeted one local, Sohaib Athar ( @ReallyVirtual ); following that some minutes later by: “A huge window shaking bang here in Abbottabad Cantt. I hope its not the start of something nasty :-S” In fact there were four US military helicopters, carrying elite troops from Navy Seal Team Six, a top counter-terrorism unit, US officials told the Associated Press, under the direct command of the CIA director, Leon Panetta, whose analysts monitored the compound from his conference room, which was transformed into a command centre. One Pakistani official said the helicopters had taken off from the Ghazi airbase in the north-west of the country. Fighters on the roof opened fire on the choppers with rocket-propelled grenades as they came close to the building, according witnesses and Pakistani sources, and one of the helicopters crashed due to mechanical problems. Witnesses reported hearing two small blasts followed by a huge explosion. “I heard a thundering sound, followed by heavy firing. Then firing suddenly stopped,” said a local resident, Mohammad Haroon Rasheed. “Then more thundering, then a big blast,” he said. “In the morning when we went out to see what happened, some helicopter wreckage was lying in an open field.” The details of the operation, including the number of US military personnel involved, remain unclear. Senior administration officials will only say that Bin Laden “resisted” during a gun battle. He died from a bullet to the head, they said. Bin Laden was identified by facial recognition, one official said, declining to say whether DNA analysis had also been used. The al-Qaida courier, his brother and one of Bin Laden’s sons, whom officials did not name, were also killed. One of Bin Laden’s sons, Hamza, is a senior member of al-Qaida. The officials said one woman died when she was used as a shield by a male combatant, and two other women were injured. Other unidentified males were taken from the scene, a Pakistani official told the Associated Press, while four children and two women were arrested and left in an ambulance, the official said. The operation took 40 minutes in total, after which flames were visible on the roof of the building. Before withdrawing, US forces blew up the helicopter wreckage. “The aircraft was destroyed by the crew, and the assault force and crew members boarded the remaining aircraft to exit the compound,” a senior administration source told the New York Times. “All non-combatants were moved safely away from the compound before the detonation.” Bin Laden’s body was loaded on to one of the helicopters and taken from the scene. US officials later confirmed he had been buried at sea, mindful of the Islamic imperative for a speedy burial. The location was not revealed. “We don’t want a bunch of people going to the shrine forever,” an official told the Washington Post. It was mid-afternoon at CIA headquarters when Panetta and his team received word that Bin Laden was dead, the Associated Press reported, after which cheers and applause broke out across the conference room. Informed immediately of the developments, Obama spoke on Sunday night to former presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton. Keith Urbahn, the former chief of staff to Bush’s defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld, gave the first public indication of the news, tweeting at 10.25pm EST Sunday evening (3.25am BST Monday morning): “So I’m told by a reputable person they have killed Osama Bin Laden. Hot damn.” Osama bin Laden United States Pakistan Global terrorism Ewen MacAskill guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Update (10:57 p.m. EDT): Osama bin Laden has been killed. That's the announcement. Still waiting for president to take the podium President Obama is set to address the nation at 10:30 p.m. EDT. Quite unexpected to say the least. There's no word what the announcement is.
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• US special forces kill Al-Qaida leader • Shootout at Abbottabad, near Pakistani capital • Jubilation in New York at death of 9/11 sponsor • Get the latest news and reaction here 12.23pm: Not surprisingly, the Pakistani Taliban is threatening retaliation: “Now Pakistani rulers, President Zardari and the army will be our first targets. America will be our second target,” Ehsanullah Ehsan, a spokesman for Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), or Taliban Movement of Pakistan, told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location. 12.21pm: So where exactly did the world’s most wanted man die? Somewhere near the Pakistani Military academy, a Pakistani military centre and the Abbottabad golf club, according to Google maps 12.15pm: Right. It’s just gone midday and time for a quick summary on the staggering events of the last few hours: • Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaida, has been killed in Pakistan during a raid by US special forces, who launched a helicopter-borne assault on a closely guarded compound in Abbottabad, 30 miles north-east of Islamabad, on Sunday night. • Bin Laden resisted the attackers and was killed along with three other men in a firefight. The operation lasted 40 minutes. The dead included Bin Laden’s most trusted courier, who carried his messages to the outside world, and one of Bin Laden’s sons, according to reports. • His body was buried at sea yesterday, “in accordance with Islamic law and traditions”. • The raid was conducted solely by US forces and the Pakistani government was not informed of the operation until it was over. • President Obama has made a statement declaring that “justice has been done”. • Thousands of Americans have taken to the streets to celebrate Bin Laden’s killing. • The international community has welcomed the news ; the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas has condemned it and hailed Bin Laden an “Arab holy warrior”. • US military bases and embassies around the world have been put on high alert amid fears that al-Qaida might retaliate, and the UK has warned its citizens to “be vigilant”. 12.03pm: Hamas has just issued a very strongly-worded statement on the killing of a man it terms “a holy Muslim warrior”, Reuters reports. “We regard this as a continuation of the American policy based on oppression and the shedding of Muslim and Arab blood,” Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip, told reporters. Though he noted doctrinal differences between bin Laden’s al-Qaida and Hamas, Haniyeh said: “We condemn the assassination and the killing of an Arab holy warrior. We ask God to offer him mercy with the true believers and the martyrs.” 12.00pm: A bit more from that remarkable White House briefing, courtesy of my colleague Mark Tran, who’s sifting the transcript. This passage deals with the courier who eventually led the US to Bin Laden himself. From the time that we first recognised bin Laden as a threat, the CIA gathered leads on individuals in bin Laden’s inner circle, including his personal couriers. Detainees in the post-9/11 period flagged for us individuals who may have been providing direct support to Bin Laden and his deputy, Zawahiri, after their escape from Afghanistan. One courier in particular had our constant attention. Detainees gave us his nom de guerre or his nickname and identified him as both a protégé of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of September 11th, and a trusted assistant of Abu Faraj al-Libbi, the former number three of al Qaeda who was captured in 2005. Detainees also identified this man as one of the few al Qaeda couriers trusted by bin Laden. They indicated he might be living with and protecting bin Laden. But for years, we were unable to identify his true name or his location. 11.56am: My colleague Esther Addley has come across this arresting little fact from the New York Times : it seems President Obama authorised the raid at about the time that Prince William and Kate Middleton were getting married on Friday. Not earth-shattering, admittedly, but interesting to learn what other epochal events were going on far from Westminster Abbey … At 8:20 that morning, Mr Obama met with Thomas Donilon, the national security adviser; John O. Brennan, the counterterrorism adviser; and other senior aides in the Diplomatic Room at the White House. The president was traveling to Alabama later that morning to witness the damage from last week’s tornadoes. But first he had to sign off on the final plan to send intelligence operatives into the compound where the administration believed that Bin Laden was hiding. 11.50am: Here’s what Pakistan’s foreign ministry has to say about the raid: In an intelligence driven operation, Osama Bin Laden was killed in the surroundings of Abbotabad in the early hours of this morning. This operation was conducted by the US forces in accordance with declared US policy that Osama bin Laden will be eliminated in a direct action by the US forces, wherever found in the world. Earlier today, President Obama telephoned President Zardari on the successful US operation which resulted in killing of Osama bin Laden. Osama bin Ladin’s death illustrates the resolve of the international community including Pakistan to fight and eliminate terrorism. It constitutes a major setback to terrorist organisations around the world. Al-Qaida had declared war on Pakistan. Scores of al-Qaida sponsored terrorist attacks resulted in deaths of thousands of innocent Pakistani men, women and children. Almost, 30,000 Pakistani civilians lost their lives in terrorist attacks in the last few years. More than 5,000 Pakistani security and armed forces officials have been martyred in Pakistan’s campaign against al-Qaida, other terrorist organisations and affiliates. Pakistan has played a significant role in efforts to eliminate terrorism. We have had extremely effective intelligence sharing arrangements with several intelligence agencies including that of the US. We will continue to support international efforts against terrorism. It is Pakistan’s stated policy that it will not allow its soil to be used in terrorist attacks against any country. Pakistan’s political leadership, parliament, state institutions and the whole nation are fully united in their resolve to eliminate terrorism. 11.47am: Sticking with the “whither al-Qaida?” theme, here’s a piece from Gulf News which suggests that the organisation has lost its relevancy in the Middle East. “There is a new alternative to al-Qaida through democracy which we are witnessing now especially with the Arab Spring revolution,” Hussain Shobokshi, a columnist for Al Sharq Al Awsat commented on Monday. Riyadh Fahad, a Bahraini analyst, said: “Bin Laden has already lost the support he initially had. He did have some backing among some religious Sunnis in the beginning, but all that faded away after his followers carried terrorist attacks against civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. “His followers lost their ‘attraction power’ after they started calling Muslims who did not embrace their ideology ‘traitors’. It was unacceptable to those who were initially fascinated by the new ideology towards a world of dignity and pride before realizing it was a murderous mirage,” he said. 11.40am: I’m looking at a (very long) transcript of the White House briefing on the raid. It’s bound to be full of good stuff, but one part jumps straight out — and directly contradicts the claims that this was anything other than a purely US operation: We shared our intelligence on this Bin Laden compound with no other country, including Pakistan. That was for one reason and one reason alone: We believed it was essential to the security of the operation and our personnel. In fact, only a very small group of people inside our own government knew of this operation in advance. Shortly after the raid, US officials contacted senior Pakistani leaders to brief them on the intent and the results of the raid. We have also contacted a number of our close allies and partners throughout the world. Those few lines speak volumes about Washington’s attitude to Pakistan. 11.35am: What does Nato make of the killing? Here’s a statement from the secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen: I congratulate President Barack Obama and all those who made the operation against Osama Bin Laden possible. This is a significant success for the security of Nato allies and all the nations which have joined us in our efforts to combat the scourge of global terrorism to make the world a safer place for all of us. Nato made clear that it considered the September 11 attacks on the United States an attack against all allies. We remember the thousands of innocent lives lost to terrorist atrocities in so many of our nations, in Afghanistan, and around the world. As terrorism continues to pose a direct threat to our security and international stability, international cooperation remains key and Nato is at the heart of that cooperation. Nato Allies and partners will continue their mission to ensure that Afghanistan never again becomes a safe haven for extremism, but develops in peace and security. We will continue to stand for the values of freedom, democracy and humanity that Osama Bin Laden wanted to defeat. 11.32am: Here’s a statement from the US embassy in Kabul, courtesy of Jon Boone. Note the sombre and decidedly unjingoistic language: The Statement by the President of the United States on the death of Osama bin Laden speaks for all Americans. Afghans have suffered as much as any other nation from the campaign of terror that he and his extremist followers undertook. His victims — Afghan, American and from many other nations — will never be forgotten. As President Obama said, “Bin Laden was not a Muslim leader; he was a mass murderer of Muslims.” This victory will not mark the end of our effort against terrorism. America’s strong support for the people of Afghanistan will continue as before. 11.29am: Others are less excited by reports of Bin Laden’s demise: The prominent Riyadh-based Saudi journalist Jamal A Khashoggi — who fought alongside Afghans and other Arabs including Osama Bin Laden in the war against the erstwhile Soviet Union in the 1980s — described Bin Laden’s killing as no big news. “If you ask me, it is no news because I expected this to happen a long time ago,” he told Arab News in an exclusive interview. Khashoggi said the fact that Osama survived for this long after Sept 11, 2001, attacks was the real story. “It was a big failure of US intelligence,” he said. ( Via Arab News ) 11.27am: What does all this mean for al-Qaida and the wider world? One expert on Islamic groups predicts that OBL’s death leaves a hole that will be tricky to fill — and that AQ’s international power will diminish: “Bin Laden so far represented the charisma leadership and the symbol for the organisation, whose absence will result in a vacuum that cannot be filled easily,” said Mohammad Abu Romman.” However, he expected Bin Laden’s assassination to have “minimal repercussions in the Arab street, because the event came in the middle of a spate of pro-democracy and pragmatic Arab uprisings that tangibly weakened the legitimacy of al-Qaeda’s thought”. “Therefore, I believe al-Qaeda’s activity will be increasingly confined to the Arab countries in future and to become a local player with its role as international player shrinking.” More here 11.19am: Slight change of pace. Abbottabad, according to Wikipedia, is named after General Sir James Abbott, who was a British officer in Colonial India. More here . 11.16am: My colleague Brian Whitaker has drawn this to our attention. It’s an early reaction to the news from The Arabist blog by Issandr El Amrani A bittersweet moment: he deserved to die, but it took so long to track him down, despite all of the billions spent in intelligence and high-tech defence gear, that by the time he died it seemed almost irrelevant to the wider problems of the region. Also, to think of all the time and lives wasted, and the unnecessary, criminal ventures like the war on Iraq that were justified in the name of fighting Bin Laden. But I’m a believer in revenge, and symbolically this is important for the US, and for the families of the victims of 9/11. Let’s hope this might be used as an occasion to turn the page in US foreign policy. Several things do strike you, though. First, outside of Pakistan and the US this won’t be much of a big deal — and it probably wouldn’t have been either at any point in the last decade, which goes to show how the alarmism about Bin Laden being some kind of popular figure in the Muslim world was misplaced. Secondly, where’s Ayman Zawahri? And thirdly, the amount of Pakistani complicity with Bin Laden really seems beyond the pale. 11.12am: Jon Boone, our man in Afghanistan, has a line on whether the death of OBL will have a profound impact on US policy towards Afghanistan: Gerard Russell, a former first secretary at the British Embassy in Kabul, currently back in Afghanistan as part of his work at Harvard University, thinks it could. He tells The Guardian: “The important question is where does this place Obama as opposed to Osama? He has an element more freedom to decide what he wants to do. If he wants to draw down more substantially this summer I think he probably could – hard to know, but he has more freedom.” However Russell is not sure whether it will improve the odds on serious peace talks getting under way. “For the Americans it makes it easier to have talks; for the Taliban it doesn’t change the situation greatly, other than showing them the reach of the Americans [into safe havens in Pakistan] – that might be very alarming for the Taliban.” 11.10am: The Foreign Office is telling British nationals to “be vigilant and monitor the media” in the wake of OBL’s death, warning that it may lead “to an increase in violence and terrorist activity”. The Foreign Secretary has today asked all our Embassies and High Commissions overseas to review their security. We advise British nationals overseas to monitor the media carefully for local reactions, remain vigilant, exercise caution in all public places and avoid demonstrations, large crowds of people and public events. Doesn’t seem to be any specific advice on Pakistan. 10.49am: AP have a little more on OBL’s compound in Abbottabad, which, it points out is less than half a day’s driver from the border region with Afghanistan. Locals said large Landcruisers and other expensive cars were seen driving into the compound, which is in a regular middle-class neighbourhood of dirt covered, litter-strewn roads and small shops. Cabbage and other vegetables are planted in empty plots in the neighbourhood. Salman Riaz, a film actor, said that five months ago he and a crew tried to do some filming next to the house, but were told to stop by two men who came out. “They told me that this is haram [forbidden in Islam],” he said. Abbottabad resident Mohammad Haroon Rasheed said the raid happened about 1:15 am local time. “I heard a thundering sound, followed by heavy firing. Then firing suddenly stopped. Then more thundering, then a big blast,” he said. “In the morning when we went out to see what happened, some helicopter wreckage was lying in an open field.” Qasim Khan, 18, who lives in a house just across the compound, said he saw two Pakistani men going in and coming out of the house often in the past several years. One of them was relatively a fat man with a beard, he said. “I never saw anybody else with the two men but, some kids sometime would accompany them. I never saw any foreigner.” 10.44am: The EU Observer reports that the EU’s ambassador to Afghanistan, Vygaudas Usackas, has welcomed the news that Bin Laden has been “finally hunted down” in Abottabad. “It could be a game changer in boosting the morale and confidence of the US and international community that the efforts and sacrifices of almost the past 10 years of involvement in Afghanistan and in the region are not in vain.” The killing, according to Usackas “will inject the regional players with confidence to move forward with greater cooperation and steps in support of peace and reconciliation”. 10.41am: The people at the Muslim youth organisation the Ramadhan Foundation have emailed us a press release. This from its chief executive, Mohammed Shafiq: Osama bin Laden has been responsible for preaching hatred and using terrorism to kill innocent people around the world and it would have been more suitable for him to be captured alive and put of trial in an international court for the crimes he has committed. Victims of terrorism by al-Qaida should have had the chance to see him brought to justice. Al-Qaida is a murderous organisation that runs totally against Islam, their actions to use terrorism around the world is not sanctioned by our faith, which promotes peace and protecting human life. Every human should be held responsible for their actions in a court of law and Osama Bin Laden is no different. There will be a need to calm and extra vigilance and that time is now. Despite seeing no justice for the victims in this world as Muslims we believe that now these crimes will be left to Allah to judge. 10.37am: Richard Norton-Taylor, the Guardian’s security editor, has been talking to his British intelligence sources. Here’s a taste of what they’ve been telling him about Bin Laden’s death and what it means: “He was a nominal head, a figurehead, but that’s what’s important about it”, said one official. “It is a significant day”, said another well-placed official. Bin Laden’s death is unlikely to lead to an assessment that the terror threat level in Britain, already high, should be increased, sources said. A “loner” might take it on him or herself to mount a retaliatory attack but any groups already plotting an attack were unlikely to change their plans one way or another. This appears to be the view in security and intelligence circles. “People are planning [attacks] anyway”, said one official. 10.32am: And just to make the fakery a little clearer 10.31am: The picture purporting to show a dead Bin Laden is a fake, as suspected. It first surfaced a couple of years ago here . 10.27am: Amrullah Saleh, who is the former head of the National Directorate of Security — Afghanistan’s equivalent of MI5 — has been letting off steam about the fact that Osama bin Laden managed to hide in plain sight in Pakistan. Ben Farmer, the Daily Telegraph’s Afghanistan correspondent, has tweeted this: 10.15am: As soon as the euphoria and relief die down, people are going to be asking how exactly OBL managed to live undetected in a huge and very distinctive compound in a Pakistani town with a massive military presence. The Times of India is already suggesting that the episode will prove highly embarrassing for the Pakistani government and security services. And that, the paper says, is why some officials are trying to claim Pakistan played a major part in the action — despite Obama’s statement that “a small team of Americans carried out the operation”. In a glaring counter-narrative, Pakistani security officials claimed Bin Laden was nailed in a joint operation between CIA and Pakistani forces. “It was carried out on a very precise info that some high-value target is there,” one Pakistani official was quoted as saying. US analysts uniformly suggested this was clearly aimed at ducking charges of the Pakistani military’s possible role in hiding bin Laden. ”This is hugely embarrassing for Pakistan,” was a common refrain on US TV channels throughout the night. The rest of the piece is here 9.59am: We’ve heard a lot of reaction from the US and a bit from the UK and elsewhere, but what are Bin Laden’s followers and sympathisers saying? A snapshot of their feelings can be found here on the Jihadology website , which monitors Jihadi commentary. Here’s a taster: “O Allah, make this news not true” “Allah protect us in our loss” “God willing, news is not true. Catastrophic if it is authentic.” “Jihad will not stop because of Sheikh’s death, it will continue until we gain victory.” “If it is true then we must thank Allah that America was not able to capture him alive. Else they would be humiliating him like Saddam Hussain. At last he may have find his greatest desire of Shahada.” “Think not of those killed in the way of Allah dead, but alive with the Lord. We consider him a martyr. O Allah, accept the martyrs. And join us by the Lord of the Worlds” 9.53am: Some facts and figures on the building that was home to the most wanted man on the planet: • The home is in Abbotabad, a town about 35 miles (60 km) north of Islamabad, which is relatively affluent and home to many retired members of Pakistan’s military. • The building — about eight times the size of other nearby houses — sat on a large plot of land that was relatively secluded when it was built in 2005. When it was constructed, it was on the outskirts of Abbotabad’s centre, at the end of a dirt road, but some other homes have been built nearby in the six years since it went up. • Massive security measures included 12- to 18-foot (3.6 metres to 5.5 metres) outer walls topped with barbed wire and internal walls that sectioned off different parts of the compound. • Few windows of the three-story home faced the outside of the compound, and a terrace had a seven-foot (2.1 metre) privacy wall. • Despite being valued at $1m, the lair had no telephone or internet connection – for obvious reasons. 9.48am: More details emerging on the compound, which appears to have been home to OBL, his family and two brothers, one of whom served as the al-Qaida chief’s most trusted courier. “When we saw the compound where the brothers lived, we were shocked by what we saw: an extraordinarily unique compound,” a senior administration official said. “The bottom line of our collection and our analysis was that we had high confidence that the compound harbored a high-value terrorist target. The experts who worked this issue for years assessed that there was a strong probability that the terrorist who was hiding there was Osama bin Laden,” another administration official said. 9.39am: The Vatican has just put out a line saying that Bin Laden will have to answer to God for killing so many people and stirring up religious hatred. This from Reuters: Spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said that while Christians “do not rejoice” over a death, it serves to remind them of “each person’s responsibility before God and men”. He added: “Osama bin Laden, as everyone knows, had the grave responsibility of having spread division and hate among people, causing the deaths of an innumerable number of people and exploiting religion for these purposes.” 9.27am: As you doubtless know by now, Osama bin Laden is dead, killed by US special forces during a raid on a heavily fortified villa in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad. A quick summary of what we have been told so far: • President Obama authorised the raid. In a statement to the US, he said: “A small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability. No Americans were harmed. They took care to avoid civilian casualties. After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body.” • His body was buried at sea yesterday, “in accordance with Islamic law and traditions”. • Details are beginning to emerge about the compound where Bin Laden was killed. It was built in 2005, had high walls, few windows, and no phones or internet connection in an effort to avoid detection. It was also apparently home to a pair of brothers who served as the Al-Qaida leader’s couriers. A family living inside matched the profile of Bin Laden’s. • Huge crowds have taken to the streets of New York to celebrate the news • The New York mayor, Michael Bloomberg, has said he hopes the news will “bring some closure and comfort to all those who lost loved ones on September 11, 2001″. • Former President George Bush has described the death a “momentous achievement” which marks “a victory for America”. • Sarah Palin has described the death as “a testament to the hard work and dedication of these brave Americans who relentlessly hunted down our enemy”. • Read our earlier live coverage here Osama bin Laden al-Qaida United States US foreign policy Pakistan CIA US military Obama administration Sam Jones guardian.co.uk
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News is now leaking out that President Obama is on the verge of announcing the death of al-Qaeda head Osama Bin Laden. Reportedly killed in Pakistan, Bin Laden’s body is now also reportedly in American custody. The President is about to speak. Watch it live right here.
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‘Justice has been done,’ Barack Obama tells world after al-Qaida leader is killed by special forces at Abbottabad compound Osama bin Laden, mastermind of the 11 September 2001 attacks and the world’s most wanted man, has been killed in a US operation in north-western Pakistan, Barack Obama has announced. “Justice has been done,” the US president said in a statement that America has been waiting a decade to hear. US special forces launched a helicopter-borne assault on a closely guarded compound in Abbottabad, 30 miles north-east of Islamabad, on Sunday night, Obama and US officials said. Bin Laden resisted the attackers and was killed along with three other men in a firefight. The operation lasted 40 minutes. The dead included Bin Laden’s most trusted courier, who carried his messages to the outside world, and one of Bin Laden’s sons, according to reports. US forces “took custody” of Bin Laden’s body, Obama said. The US stressed Islamic practices would be respected. No Americans were killed. Pictures on the Pakistani TV station Express 24/7 showed flames rising from what is said to be the site of Bin Laden’s last stand: a building surrounded by trees and high walls. There had been years of speculation that Bin Laden was hiding in the remote tribal areas of Pakistan or across the border in Afghanistan. But the town where he was eventually found lies a short distance from Islamabad, and is the home to the country’s main military training institution, the Pakistan Military Academy, at Kakul. It is several hundred miles from Waziristan, where the CIA drone strike campaign has been concentrated. The fact that Bin Laden was killed in a mainstream urban area of Pakistan will raise questions about how the six-foot-four fugitive, one of the most famous faces in the world, managed to survive in Pakistan for so long. Obama praised Pakistan for its “close counter-terrorism co-operation”. But officials said the US was the only country that knew in advance of the operation. An official with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence declined to comment other than to say that it was a “highly sensitive intelligence operation”. The dramatic news closes one chapter in the global turmoil sparked by the 2001 attacks on America that killed 3,000 people. It triggered the war in Afghanistan, was used as a pretext for the invasion of Iraq and inflicted grievous damage on America’s moral authority through CIA torture of al-Qaida suspects and the detention of more than 700 people at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba. The death of the Saudi-born fugitive is likely to have a major impact on US foreign policy in south Asia, where almost 100,000 soldiers are fighting in Afghanistan and CIA drones have been pounding al-Qaida targets in north-west Pakistan. “It’s a game changer,” said a senior western diplomat in Afghanistan. “But just what it will mean is not clear yet.” There may be political repercussions at home. Hundreds of people gathered outside the White House before midnight to celebrate, singing The Star Spangled Banner and chanting “USA, USA”. The success that eluded George Bush sharply increases Obama’s chances of re-election next year. As a candidate during the 2008 election campaign Obama repeatedly vowed: “We will kill Osama bin Laden.” Despite the massive resources America devoted to the “war on terror”, as the Bush administration termed it, Bin Laden has remained at large for almost a decade. Obama said over two years ago that he had ordered the CIA to make the capture or killing of the Saudi-born fugitive its priority. Obama’s big break came last August when the CIA learned of a location where Bin Laden may have been hiding : a tree-lined, high-walled compound near Abbottabad, a town in the foothills of the Himalayas two hours’ drive north of Islamabad. In February the CIA confirmed that Bin Laden was hiding in the compound, part-owned by Bin Laden’s courier. On closer examination it appeared to be a custom-built hideout. The compound was eight times bigger than neighbouring residences and the walls were between three and six metres high, topped with barbed wire. Access was highly restricted. Although valued at over US$1m the place had no phone or internet connection. After numerous conferences with advisers Obama ordered the operation on Sunday night. US officials said two American helicopters were involved but one crashed and had to be blown up. US military bases and embassies around the world have been put on high alert amid fears that al-Qaida might retaliate. Bin Laden’s second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, remains at liberty. Obama, seeking to avoid an air of triumphalism, adopted a dignified, low-key tone during his announcement. “Tonight I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaida and a terrorist who’s responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children.” He said the death would not mean an end to the violence and predicted al-Qaida would continue to pursue attacks. Bin Laden’s death sparked a frenzy of analysis of al-Qaida’s future. Experts have debated for many years how important the leader is to the organisation. Some argued that because Bin Laden promoted decentralised fighting, with individuals acting on their own initiative, his death would make little difference. Others insisted Bin Laden and the other top al-Qaida leaders such as al-Zawahiri were crucial to the continued existence of the group. Though Bin Laden was an icon for many, his message of violence had been increasingly rejected across the Islamic world. From around 2005 repeated polls indicated flagging support for him personally and for his organisation. The events of this spring, which saw popular mobilisation across the Arab world under slogans of democracy and pluralism, have been seen by many analysts as evidence of al-Qaida’s increasing marginalisation and the failure to achieve its key strategic aim of radicalising large masses of population to lay the basis for the establishment of a new caliphate – a Muslim state governed only by Islamic law. Osama bin Laden al-Qaida Global terrorism United States US foreign policy Ewen MacAskill Jason Burke Declan Walsh guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …‘Justice has been done,’ Barack Obama tells world after al-Qaida leader is killed by special forces at Abbottabad compound Osama bin Laden, mastermind of the 11 September 2001 attacks and the world’s most wanted man, has been killed in a US operation in north-western Pakistan, Barack Obama has announced. “Justice has been done,” the US president said in a statement that America has been waiting a decade to hear. US special forces launched a helicopter-borne assault on a closely guarded compound in Abbottabad, 30 miles north-east of Islamabad, on Sunday night, Obama and US officials said. Bin Laden resisted the attackers and was killed along with three other men in a firefight. The operation lasted 40 minutes. The dead included Bin Laden’s most trusted courier, who carried his messages to the outside world, and one of Bin Laden’s sons, according to reports. US forces “took custody” of Bin Laden’s body, Obama said. The US stressed Islamic practices would be respected. No Americans were killed. Pictures on the Pakistani TV station Express 24/7 showed flames rising from what is said to be the site of Bin Laden’s last stand: a building surrounded by trees and high walls. There had been years of speculation that Bin Laden was hiding in the remote tribal areas of Pakistan or across the border in Afghanistan. But the town where he was eventually found lies a short distance from Islamabad, and is the home to the country’s main military training institution, the Pakistan Military Academy, at Kakul. It is several hundred miles from Waziristan, where the CIA drone strike campaign has been concentrated. The fact that Bin Laden was killed in a mainstream urban area of Pakistan will raise questions about how the six-foot-four fugitive, one of the most famous faces in the world, managed to survive in Pakistan for so long. Obama praised Pakistan for its “close counter-terrorism co-operation”. But officials said the US was the only country that knew in advance of the operation. An official with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence declined to comment other than to say that it was a “highly sensitive intelligence operation”. The dramatic news closes one chapter in the global turmoil sparked by the 2001 attacks on America that killed 3,000 people. It triggered the war in Afghanistan, was used as a pretext for the invasion of Iraq and inflicted grievous damage on America’s moral authority through CIA torture of al-Qaida suspects and the detention of more than 700 people at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba. The death of the Saudi-born fugitive is likely to have a major impact on US foreign policy in south Asia, where almost 100,000 soldiers are fighting in Afghanistan and CIA drones have been pounding al-Qaida targets in north-west Pakistan. “It’s a game changer,” said a senior western diplomat in Afghanistan. “But just what it will mean is not clear yet.” There may be political repercussions at home. Hundreds of people gathered outside the White House before midnight to celebrate, singing The Star Spangled Banner and chanting “USA, USA”. The success that eluded George Bush sharply increases Obama’s chances of re-election next year. As a candidate during the 2008 election campaign Obama repeatedly vowed: “We will kill Osama bin Laden.” Despite the massive resources America devoted to the “war on terror”, as the Bush administration termed it, Bin Laden has remained at large for almost a decade. Obama said over two years ago that he had ordered the CIA to make the capture or killing of the Saudi-born fugitive its priority. Obama’s big break came last August when the CIA learned of a location where Bin Laden may have been hiding : a tree-lined, high-walled compound near Abbottabad, a town in the foothills of the Himalayas two hours’ drive north of Islamabad. In February the CIA confirmed that Bin Laden was hiding in the compound, part-owned by Bin Laden’s courier. On closer examination it appeared to be a custom-built hideout. The compound was eight times bigger than neighbouring residences and the walls were between three and six metres high, topped with barbed wire. Access was highly restricted. Although valued at over US$1m the place had no phone or internet connection. After numerous conferences with advisers Obama ordered the operation on Sunday night. US officials said two American helicopters were involved but one crashed and had to be blown up. US military bases and embassies around the world have been put on high alert amid fears that al-Qaida might retaliate. Bin Laden’s second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, remains at liberty. Obama, seeking to avoid an air of triumphalism, adopted a dignified, low-key tone during his announcement. “Tonight I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaida and a terrorist who’s responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children.” He said the death would not mean an end to the violence and predicted al-Qaida would continue to pursue attacks. Bin Laden’s death sparked a frenzy of analysis of al-Qaida’s future. Experts have debated for many years how important the leader is to the organisation. Some argued that because Bin Laden promoted decentralised fighting, with individuals acting on their own initiative, his death would make little difference. Others insisted Bin Laden and the other top al-Qaida leaders such as al-Zawahiri were crucial to the continued existence of the group. Though Bin Laden was an icon for many, his message of violence had been increasingly rejected across the Islamic world. From around 2005 repeated polls indicated flagging support for him personally and for his organisation. The events of this spring, which saw popular mobilisation across the Arab world under slogans of democracy and pluralism, have been seen by many analysts as evidence of al-Qaida’s increasing marginalisation and the failure to achieve its key strategic aim of radicalising large masses of population to lay the basis for the establishment of a new caliphate – a Muslim state governed only by Islamic law. Osama bin Laden al-Qaida Global terrorism United States US foreign policy Ewen MacAskill Jason Burke Declan Walsh guardian.co.uk
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Click here to view this media President Obama’s late night remarks to America after Bin Laden is confirmed to have been killed: THE PRESIDENT: Good evening. Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda, and a terrorist who’s responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children. It was nearly 10 years ago that a bright September day was darkened by the worst attack on the American people in our history. The images of 9/11 are seared into our national memory — hijacked planes cutting through a cloudless September sky; the Twin Towers collapsing to the ground; black smoke billowing up from the Pentagon; the wreckage of Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where the actions of heroic citizens saved even more heartbreak and destruction. And yet we know that the worst images are those that were unseen to the world. The empty seat at the dinner table. Children who were forced to grow up without their mother or their father. Parents who would never know the feeling of their child’s embrace. Nearly 3,000 citizens taken from us, leaving a gaping hole in our hearts. On September 11, 2001, in our time of grief, the American people came together. We offered our neighbors a hand, and we offered the wounded our blood. We reaffirmed our ties to each other, and our love of community and country. On that day, no matter where we came from, what God we prayed to, or what race or ethnicity we were, we were united as one American family. We were also united in our resolve to protect our nation and to bring those who committed this vicious attack to justice. We quickly learned that the 9/11 attacks were carried out by al Qaeda — an organization headed by Osama bin Laden, which had openly declared war on the United States and was committed to killing innocents in our country and around the globe. And so we went to war against al Qaeda to protect our citizens, our friends, and our allies. Over the last 10 years, thanks to the tireless and heroic work of our military and our counterterrorism professionals, we’ve made great strides in that effort. We’ve disrupted terrorist attacks and strengthened our homeland defense. In Afghanistan, we removed the Taliban government, which had given bin Laden and al Qaeda safe haven and support. And around the globe, we worked with our friends and allies to capture or kill scores of al Qaeda terrorists, including several who were a part of the 9/11 plot. Yet Osama bin Laden avoided capture and escaped across the Afghan border into Pakistan. Meanwhile, al Qaeda continued to operate from along that border and operate through its affiliates across the world. And so shortly after taking office, I directed Leon Panetta, the director of the CIA, to make the killing or capture of bin Laden the top priority of our war against al Qaeda, even as we continued our broader efforts to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat his network. Then, last August, after years of painstaking work by our intelligence community, I was briefed on a possible lead to bin Laden. It was far from certain, and it took many months to run this thread to ground. I met repeatedly with my national security team as we developed more information about the possibility that we had located bin Laden hiding within a compound deep inside of Pakistan. And finally, last week, I determined that we had enough intelligence to take action, and authorized an operation to get Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice. Today, at my direction, the United States launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. A small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability. No Americans were harmed. They took care to avoid civilian casualties. After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body. For over two decades, bin Laden has been al Qaeda’s leader and symbol, and has continued to plot attacks against our country and our friends and allies. The death of bin Laden marks the most significant achievement to date in our nation’s effort to defeat al Qaeda. Yet his death does not mark the end of our effort. There’s no doubt that al Qaeda will continue to pursue attacks against us. We must –- and we will — remain vigilant at home and abroad. As we do, we must also reaffirm that the United States is not –- and never will be -– at war with Islam. I’ve made clear, just as President Bush did shortly after 9/11, that our war is not against Islam. Bin Laden was not a Muslim leader; he was a mass murderer of Muslims. Indeed, al Qaeda has slaughtered scores of Muslims in many countries, including our own. So his demise should be welcomed by all who believe in peace and human dignity. Over the years, I’ve repeatedly made clear that we would take action within Pakistan if we knew where bin Laden was. That is what we’ve done. But it’s important to note that our counterterrorism cooperation with Pakistan helped lead us to bin Laden and the compound where he was hiding. Indeed, bin Laden had declared war against Pakistan as well, and ordered attacks against the Pakistani people. Tonight, I called President Zardari, and my team has also spoken with their Pakistani counterparts. They agree that this is a good and historic day for both of our nations. And going forward, it is essential that Pakistan continue to join us in the fight against al Qaeda and its affiliates. The American people did not choose this fight. It came to our shores, and started with the senseless slaughter of our citizens. After nearly 10 years of service, struggle, and sacrifice, we know well the costs of war. These efforts weigh on me every time I, as Commander-in-Chief, have to sign a letter to a family that has lost a loved one, or look into the eyes of a service member who’s been gravely wounded. So Americans understand the costs of war. Yet as a country, we will never tolerate our security being threatened, nor stand idly by when our people have been killed. We will be relentless in defense of our citizens and our friends and allies. We will be true to the values that make us who we are. And on nights like this one, we can say to those families who have lost loved ones to al Qaeda’s terror: Justice has been done. Tonight, we give thanks to the countless intelligence and counterterrorism professionals who’ve worked tirelessly to achieve this outcome. The American people do not see their work, nor know their names. But tonight, they feel the satisfaction of their work and the result of their pursuit of justice. We give thanks for the men who carried out this operation, for they exemplify the professionalism, patriotism, and unparalleled courage of those who serve our country. And they are part of a generation that has borne the heaviest share of the burden since that September day. Finally, let me say to the families who lost loved ones on 9/11 that we have never forgotten your loss, nor wavered in our commitment to see that we do whatever it takes to prevent another attack on our shores. And tonight, let us think back to the sense of unity that prevailed on 9/11. I know that it has, at times, frayed. Yet today’s achievement is a testament to the greatness of our country and the determination of the American people. The cause of securing our country is not complete. But tonight, we are once again reminded that America can do whatever we set our mind to. That is the story of our history, whether it’s the pursuit of prosperity for our people, or the struggle for equality for all our citizens; our commitment to stand up for our values abroad, and our sacrifices to make the world a safer place. Let us remember that we can do these things not just because of wealth or power, but because of who we are: one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. May God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America. END 11:44 P.M. EDT As Duncan says : So, well, happy Mission Accomplished day then. (h/t Heather for the video)
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Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind al-Qaida, is dead, President Obama to announce from the White House Osama bin Laden, the criminal mastermind behind al-Qaida and the world’s most sought-after terrorist since the attacks of 11 September 2001, has been killed by a US operation, President Barack Obama has announced. In an address to the nation, President Barack Obama said Bin Laden was killed in a “targeted operation” in Abbottabad, a highland town north of Islamabad, last night. The operation started with an intelligence lead last August, and culminated in an operation involving a “small team of Americans”. “After a firefight they killed bin Laden.” None of the Americans were killed. Pakistani cooperation “helped to lead us to him” he said. Osama’s body is in possession of the US, according to the first leaks of reporting from the US television networks. As the news spread, crowds gathered outside the gates of the White House in Washington DC, singing the national anthem and cheering. President Obama is to make a highly unusual Sunday night live statement to announce the news, around 11.30pm eastern time. The news comes eight years to the day that President George Bush declared “Mission accomplished” in Iraq. As president, Bush declared he wanted bin Laden “dead or alive” – but it is now the unlikely figure of Barack Obama who announces the final triumph as the US commander in chief. This is a turning point in the global “war on terrorism” that has been waged since 9/11 – and the news will reverberate around the world. The news comes as an unparalleled boost for US foreign policy, the key aim of which since 2001 has been the disarming and dismemberment of al-Qaida, and coincidentally probably insures the re-election of Obama in the 2012 presidential contest. As a candidate, during the 2008 election campaign Obama repeatedly vowed: “We will kill Osama bin Laden.” And so it proved. The Obama statement was originally scheduled for 10.30pm, but the need to inform US congressional leaders caused the delay. In the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, one western diplomat described the news as a “game changer” – not just for al Qaida, but also for US foreign policy in Pakistan and Afghanistan, a region embroiled in turmoil and violence since 2001. “I’m overjoyed,” said the diplomat. “But what this exactly means is really not clear.” Some analysts fear bin Laden’s death could spark a precipitous US withdrawal from the region, with the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan still unresolved. It will likely also reconfigure relations with Pakistan, where the CIA is engaged in an controversial assassination campaign against senior al Qaida figures using Predator and Reaper drones. “He’s dead,” said an official with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence, declining to give another other details other than to say that it was “highly sensitive intelligence operation.” The official said he was “not at liberty” to give more details on the killing, including on reports that Pakistani intelligence was involved in the operation. “We’ll release more information later this morning,” he said. Osama bin Laden Pakistan al-Qaida Obama administration Afghanistan Barack Obama United States Richard Adams Declan Walsh guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …CNN, MSNBC and Fox News are all reporting that U.S. intelligence sources claim Osama bin Laden has been killed and that the United States is in possession of his body. More details as they arrive.
Continue reading …It is Decoration Day weekend in Alabama, a time when families gather to decorate the headstones of their loved ones and ancestors. But this weekend is seeing a lot of Alabama families hold funerals after the second most destructive tornado event ever left claw marks in the red soil of North Alabama.
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