Killing of al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden – full coverage
Posted by Subhan Choudhury on May 24, 2011
The world’s most-wanted terrorist, who was shot dead by Navy SEAL commandos, lived his last five years imprisoned behind the barbed wire and high walls of his home in Abbottabad, his days consumed by darkness and domesticity.
United States officials believe that Osama bin Laden spent many hours on the computer, relying on couriers to bring him thumb drives packed with information from the outside world. His once-large entourage of Arab bodyguards was down to one trusted Pakistani courier and the courier’s brother, who also had the job of buying goats, sheep and Coca-Cola for the household.
While his world had shrunk, he was still revered at home by his three wives, by his children and by the tight, interconnected circle of loyalists in the compound.
The house in Abbottabad
Abbottabad, a scenic hill cantonment for the British Raj and later home to the elite military academy that is Pakistan’s West Point, became Osama’s family base in late 2005. Three women, 12 children, cows, rabbits and chickens all hid behind the high walls.
The three-storey building that became the fugitive terror chief’s last refuge was built in 2005, a white-walled square-built block without balconies, resembling a small clinic more than a country mansion. Osama never went out. The neighbours knew the family as Arshad Khan and Tariq Khan, the local aliases of the trusted courier he also went by the name Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti and his brother. They never invited anyone in or went to others’ homes, although they did go to prayers in the mosque and funerals in the neighbourhood. The women only left the compound with their husbands in a car, covered from head to toe in black burqas. The children rarely played outside. When neighbourhood boys playing in the fields let a ball fly into the compound by mistake, the Khans gave them Rs. 50 rupees, to buy a new one rather than let them in to retrieve it. To avoid detection, Osama had no Internet, e-mail or phone lines that he could use to send them.
The raid
On April 29, 2011, U.S. President Barack Obama authorized the CIA to conduct a raid, dubbed “Operation Neptune Spear”. Two teams of 12 U.S. Navy SEALs from the Naval Special Warfare Development Group – SEAL Team Six, of the Joint Special Operations Command and working with the CIA paramilitary operatives, stormed bin Laden’s compound in two helicopters.
Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, bin Laden’s courier, opened fire on the SEALs from the guesthouse with an AK-47 assault rifle where he and his wife were killed in the returned fire. A second group of SEALs entered the main house where they were confronted by al-Kuwaiti’s brother who had his hands behind his back. He was shot and killed by the SEALs, who feared he might have a weapon. Bin Laden’s unarmed 22-year-old son rushed towards the SEALs on the staircase and was also shot and killed. As the raiders traversed the stairs to the 3rd floor of the compound, a man was found standing at the end of the hallway. They immediately recognized him as bin Laden who rather than give-up, retreated into his bedroom. The raiders assumed he was going for a weapon and quickly rushed in to find him behind two women who were yelling and trying to protect him. The women were shoved to the side while another raider fired fatal gunshots into his head and chest. There were two weapons near him, including an AK-47 assault rifle and a 9 millimeter semi-automatic Makarov pistol.
On the night he was killed, Osama was with his Yemeni wife Amal Ahmed Abdulfattah, who was apparently the one shot by commandos in the leg as she rushed them in an effort to protect her husband. U.S. officials say there were also children in the bedroom; Pakistani intelligence officers, in reports that have not been verified by U.S. officials, say a 12-year-old girl told them that she was a daughter of Osama and that she saw the Americans shoot her father. There was one woman killed in the raid, who was caught in cross-fire when the commandos killed the courier. A retired Pakistani intelligence officer, Brig. Asa Munir, said the woman was an Arab doctor.
Osama Bin Laden was not prepared for the kind of attack the commandos carried out. There was no escape route, no tunnels, not even false rooms in the house in which to hide. Bin Laden had cash totaling 500 euro and two telephone numbers sewn into his clothing when he was killed
The entire raid, including intelligence sweeps of the compound, was completed in less than 40 minutes. His body was taken and biometric facial recognition tests were performed. Within 24 hours of his death, bin Laden’s body was transported to the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson for final rites and burial at sea. The burial at sea was believed to have been decided to deny supporters of the al-Qaeda leader a shrine. The two cows ended up at a military-owned factory farm. The fate of the rabbits is unclear.
Photos
Images obtained by Reuters from a Pakistani Army officer show bodies of three dead men in Bin Laden compound with no arms on them suggesting they were unarmed when shot.The photos were taken by the official just an hour after the raid. Observing from behind mirrored glass, CIA officers used cameras with telephoto lenses and infrared imaging equipment to study the compound, and they used sensitive eavesdropping equipment to try to pick up voices from inside the house and to intercept cellphone calls.
Smart CIA watched Bin Laden from nearby safe house
CIA managed to carryout extensive surveillance of Osama Bin Laden’s hideout, watching and photographing residents and visitors from a nearby safe house in Abbottabad for months.
Dumb CIA thought he was in the hills
Since Bin Laden’s escape from Tora Bora in 2001, CIA officials believed he was hiding in the tribal belt along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. They have been looking for him in the wrong direction over six years.
A happy U.S. President
“Tonight, I can report to the people of the United States and the world, the United States had carried an operation that has killed Osama bin Laden, a terrorist responsible for killing thousands of innocent people,” President Obama said in a statement. “Today, at my direction, the United States carried out that operation… they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body. The death of bin Laden marks the most significant achievement to date against al-Qaeda.We must also reaffirm that United states is not and will never be at war against Islam. Bin Laden was not a Muslim leader, in fact, he slaughtered many Muslims,” Obama said.
Former US president George Bush called his death a “momentous achievement”. “The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done,” Bush said in a statement.
Immediate threats
Hours after Obama made the announcement, a top al-Qaeda ideologue promised revenge for bin Laden’s death. The commentator, going by the online name Assad al-Jihad2 posted on websites a long eulogy for the al-Qaeda leader and promised to “avenge the killing of the Sheik of Islam”. The Pakistani Taliban also threatened attacks against government leaders, including President Asif Ali Zardari, the Pakistan army and the United States.
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