Osama bin Laden is dead
After ten years of hunting, a team of U.S. personnel kill Osama bin Laden in a firefight near the Pakistani capital
- (CBS News)
Updated 12:17 p.m. ET
The founder and spiritual figurehead for al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, is dead.
President Barack Obama said in an address from the White House that a small team of Americans carried out the operation to kill bin Laden in Pakistan, and that cooperation from Pakistani authorities was crucial.
"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," Mr. Obama said. "Tonight, we can say to those who have lost loved ones to al Qaeda's terror, justice has been done."
Mr. Obama said bin Laden was killed after a firefight with a U.S. team, and his body is currently in U.S. hands.
A senior official told CBS News that Obama chaired no fewer than five National Security Council meetings meeting on the pursuit of bin Laden, and gave order to plan attack on compound on the morning of April 29. He gave final order for the attack this morning, which he described in his speech as resulting in a "firefight" in which no U.S. personnel were harmed.
A senior U.S. counterterrorism official told the Associated Press that bin Laden was killed in a ground operation in Pakistan, in a mansion near the capital, Islamabad. While details are still sketchy, CBS News correspondent Chip Reid reports from the White House that officials are saying bin Laden was shot in the head.
Key dates in the hunt for Osama bin Laden
The long-lost terrorist mastermind had eluded an aggressive hunt by U.S. authorities for nearly ten years since the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 11, 2001.
CBS News correspondent Lara Logan reports that human intelligence was vital in killing bin Laden, which is an important boost to the image of U.S. international intelligence gathering, because it says that no enemy is safe anywhere.
Bin Laden's death is a major accomplishment for Mr. Obama and his national security team, as the administrations of both presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush hunted the Saudi-born terrorist.
WikiLeaks: al Qaeda watched towers burn
Al Qaeda looks to co-opt Egypt, Tunisia unrest
Security at "strategic places in Pakistan has been beefed up as a precaution against any retaliation to news of Osama bin Laden's death", a senior Pakistani security official told CBS News early on Monday. "If he (bin Laden) is really dead, there will be attempts to seek revenge," said the official who spoke to CBS News on condition of anonymity.
Former State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said on Twitter: "#BinLaden's death does not eliminate the threat from #alQaeda, but it is hard to see anyone playing the same organizational role he did."
The founder and spiritual figurehead for al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, is dead.
President Barack Obama said in an address from the White House that a small team of Americans carried out the operation to kill bin Laden in Pakistan, and that cooperation from Pakistani authorities was crucial.
"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," Mr. Obama said. "Tonight, we can say to those who have lost loved ones to al Qaeda's terror, justice has been done."
Mr. Obama said bin Laden was killed after a firefight with a U.S. team, and his body is currently in U.S. hands.
A senior official told CBS News that Obama chaired no fewer than five National Security Council meetings meeting on the pursuit of bin Laden, and gave order to plan attack on compound on the morning of April 29. He gave final order for the attack this morning, which he described in his speech as resulting in a "firefight" in which no U.S. personnel were harmed.
A senior U.S. counterterrorism official told the Associated Press that bin Laden was killed in a ground operation in Pakistan, in a mansion near the capital, Islamabad. While details are still sketchy, CBS News correspondent Chip Reid reports from the White House that officials are saying bin Laden was shot in the head.
Key dates in the hunt for Osama bin Laden
The long-lost terrorist mastermind had eluded an aggressive hunt by U.S. authorities for nearly ten years since the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 11, 2001.
CBS News correspondent Lara Logan reports that human intelligence was vital in killing bin Laden, which is an important boost to the image of U.S. international intelligence gathering, because it says that no enemy is safe anywhere.
Bin Laden's death is a major accomplishment for Mr. Obama and his national security team, as the administrations of both presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush hunted the Saudi-born terrorist.
WikiLeaks: al Qaeda watched towers burn
Al Qaeda looks to co-opt Egypt, Tunisia unrest
Security at "strategic places in Pakistan has been beefed up as a precaution against any retaliation to news of Osama bin Laden's death", a senior Pakistani security official told CBS News early on Monday. "If he (bin Laden) is really dead, there will be attempts to seek revenge," said the official who spoke to CBS News on condition of anonymity.
Former State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said on Twitter: "#BinLaden's death does not eliminate the threat from #alQaeda, but it is hard to see anyone playing the same organizational role he did."
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