Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed in a U.S. helicopter raid on a mansion near the Pakistani capital Islamabad early on Monday, ending a long worldwide hunt for the mastermind of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
Members of an elite Navy Seals team dropped by helicopter to the compound were under orders to kill not capture bin Laden, who had eluded U.S. forces for 13 years, a senior U.S. security official told Reuters."This was a kill operation," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Many analysts see bin Laden's death as largely symbolic since he was no longer believed to have been issuing operational orders to the many autonomous al Qaeda affiliates around the world.Last week, al Qaeda issued its annual Christmas threat to the United States, promising suicide bombings during the holidays. Here’s a better idea for a Christmas present from al Qaeda: a video showing Osama bin Laden – or his grave.
Is bin Laden dead or alive? Nobody seems to know for sure, or, if anybody does, he isn’t saying. The White House’s Afghanistan-Pakistan review this month didn’t even mention him despite an ongoing, decade-long manhunt.
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