WASHINGTON (RNN) – The man responsible for the planning of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the central figure in the al-Queda terrorist operation, Osama bin Laden, has been killed by U.S. forces and buried at sea.
President Barack Obama announced late Sunday night that bin Laden was killed in Pakistan in a firefight with U.S. forces.
“The death of Bin Laden marks the most significant achievement to date in our nation’s effort to defeat al-Qaeda. His death does not mark the end of our effort,” Obama said.
A U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity said bin Laden’s burial would be handled according to Islamic tradition, which required burial within 24 hours, the AP reported.
The official said it would have been difficult to find a country willing to take bin Laden’s body, for fear it would create a permanent shrine.
Obama says he was briefed on a possible lead on bin Laden last August, but it was “far from certain.” After several meetings, he says last week, he and his national security team finally had enough intelligence to take action.
According to senior Obama administration officials, bin Laden was located in a $1 million compound in Pakistan.
“Intelligence analysts determined this compound was custom built to hide someone of significance,” the official said. “Everything we saw was perfectly consistent with what experts expected bin Laden’s compound to look like.”
[Click here to read more about the raid on bin Laden’s compound.]
He noted it also had no phone or internet access.
In a 40-minute raid, bin Laden was killed, as well as three adult men, two believed to be couriers and a third, bin Laden’s adult son. A woman was also killed when she was used as a shield by a combatant within the compound.
The administration officials say the intelligence on bin Laden’s whereabouts was not shared with any other country and only a few people within the ranks of the U.S. government knew about the operation in advance.
Read More Here: http://www.woio.com/global/story.asp?s=14551158
Article Courtesy of WOIO 19 Action News
