Al-Qaeda leader: Death of Osama Bin Laden
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Osama bin Laden Death Facts: Fast Fact Sheet
Fast, fun facts and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)
about the death of
Al-Qaeda leader, Osama
bin Laden.
What was the date of the death of Osama bin Laden? The
death of Osama bin Laden was Sunday May 2,
2011
Where was the death of Osama bin Laden? The
death of
Osama bin Laden was in Abbottabad, an
affluent suburb just 35 miles from Islamabad,
the capital of Pakistan.
Who was responsible for the death of Osama bin Laden?
The operation, code-named Operation Neptune
Spear, was carried out in a Central
Intelligence Agency-led operation by United
States Navy SEALs of the U.S. Naval Special
Warfare Development Group who were
responsible for the death of Osama bin
Laden.
Osama bin
Laden Death
Facts for kids
The following fact
sheet contains interesting facts and information on
Osama bin Laden Death.
Osama bin
Laden Death
Facts for kids
Osama bin
Laden Death
Facts - 1:
History: The Saudi Arabian multi-millionaire Osama bin
Laden became the leader
of the radical Islamic terrorist group known as Al-Qaeda in 1989.
Osama bin
Laden Death
Facts -
2:
History: Originally based in the Sudan, the Al-Qaeda
terrorists relocated to Afghanistan in 1996 where Osama
bin Laden began to forge close links with the Taliban,
another hard-line Sunni fundamentalist movement wih a
large Islamic militia.
Osama bin
Laden Death
Facts - 3:
History: The
9/11
terrorist attacks of Tuesday September 11, 2001 against the
United States was masterminded by Osama bin Laden and perpetrated by
members of Al-Qaeda.
Osama bin
Laden Death
Facts - 4:
History: Following the 9/11 attacks
President George H Bush
began the 'War on Terror'
demanding the extradition of Osama bin Laden from
Afghanistan. The Taliban refused the demand and the
Afghanistan War
began on October 7, 2001 as the US and British
bombing campaign targeted the Taliban's military forces and the
Al-Qaeda training camps.
Osama bin
Laden Death
Facts - 5:
History: Osama bin Laden went into hiding but was
tracked to the well equipped, multi-storied, Tora Bora cave complex
in the White Mountains of eastern Afghanistan. He narrowly escaped
capture and managed to escape into Pakistan on December 16, 2001.
Osama bin
Laden Death
Facts - 6: Osama bin Laden disappeared for the next nine and a half years
and became the world's most wanted man until his death
on May 2, 2011. A US reward of $25 million was offered
for information leading to the arrest or conviction of
the notorious leader of Al-Qaeda and his acts of
international terrorism.
Osama bin
Laden Death
Facts - 7: The CIA, the FBI
and other intelligence agencies worked for nearly ten
years to locate Osama bin Laden. There are conflicting
reports on how he was located. Some say it was a
Pakistani informant, whilst other reports more strongly
suggest it was a result of US intelligence reports and
the tracking of an important Al-Qaeda courier.
Osama bin
Laden Death
Facts - 8: Osama bin Laden
was careful to evade capture. He did not use and
technical equipment such as cell phones or Internet
links that might reveal his location. Instead he made
use of trusted couriers to distribute his letters and
occasional video and audio pronouncements.
Osama bin
Laden Death
Facts -
9: The name of an
important courier, Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, was revealed
during the controversial interrogations of detainees in
Guantanamo Bay. It was the
breakthrough that ultimately led to the death of Osama
bin Laden.
Osama bin
Laden Death
Facts - 10: It took the CIA
five years to learn the real name of the courier as
Ibrahim Saeed Ahmed. Armed with the cell phone number of
the courier the US was able to track him to his
residence at a large compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
Osama bin
Laden Death
Facts -
11: The CIA concluded
that the Abbottabad compound was "custom built to hide
someone of significance". Using intelligence reports,
stealth drones and satellite photographs the CIA sought
to identify all of the inhabitants living in the
fortified compound in Abbottabad.
Osama bin
Laden Death
Facts - 12: The photographs showed
repeated images of a tall, thin man wearing traditional
Pakistani attire and prayer cap taking regular walks around the
vegetable garden. The man came to be known as "The Pacer".
Osama bin
Laden Death
Facts - 13: The angle from which the
photos were taken made it impossible to get a clear look at the
man’s face but John Brennan, head of the CIA’s Counterterrorism
Center, believed he knew the identity of "The Pacer" -
the man had the same walk as Osama bin Laden.
Osama bin
Laden Death
Facts - 14: The clues mounted up; the
tall, thin "Pacer", the size of the family the high security
compound and the connection with the trusted courier.
Osama bin
Laden Death
Facts - 15: By early March,
2011 the CIA had determined that the Abbottabad compound
definitely held a “high-value target” and that he was
most likely to be Osama bin Laden.
Osama bin
Laden Death
Facts - 16: The decision was
made to mount a helicopter raid on the compound. The
operation to kill or capture the Al-Qaeda leader
took months of top secret planning and rehearsal.
President Barack Obama formally gave the go-ahead for
the mission on the morning of Friday 29 April, 2011.
Continued...
Osama bin
Laden Death
Facts for kids
Osama bin
Laden Death: The Compound
The following image shows the compound where Osama bin Laden met
his death.
The Compound
The large compound measured
38,000 square foot and had unusually high, concrete
walls, some up to 18 feet high, that were topped by
an additional 2 feet of barbed wire.
The compound
was six years old. There were few windows and it was
impossible to see inside the house from outside, or
from above. There were two security gates and
security cameras.
The family
lived in the second and third floors of the house.
The third-floor balcony had an unusual 7ft privacy
wall.
There were no
phone or internet connections and all trash was
burned on site in an area within the compound.
Within the compound was a vegetable garden and space
for 100 chickens, rabbits and a cow.
Osama bin
Laden Death: The Compound
The high security compound, and site of the death of
the Al-Qaeda leader, housed three families. Ibrahim
Ahmed, his brother Abrar and their families occupied
the ground floor of the House. Osama bin Laden and
his family, consisting of his three wives, a young
man, and 10 or more children, lived on the
second a third floors of the house. The compound was
located
in the affluent suburb Abbottabad, just
35 miles from
Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. The residence
was known locally as the Waziristan Haveli (haveli
means "mansion" and Waziristan is a region in
Pakistan).
Facts
about the Osama bin Laden Death for kids
The following fact
sheet continues with facts about Osama bin Laden Death.
Osama bin
Laden Death
Facts for kids
Osama bin
Laden Death
Facts - 17: May 2, 2011
provided the opportunity of a moonless night on which to
mount the raid on the compound. At 11 P.M. local time 23
Navy Seals in two stealth Black Hawks, accompanied
by a back-up team of 24 Seals in three Chinook
helicopters, lifted off from an airfield at Jalalabad in
US occupied Afghanistan to fly 135 miles to the Abbottabad compound of which 120 miles were in
Pakistan airspace.
Osama bin
Laden Death
Facts - 18: President Barack
Obama and his closest advisers were gathered in the
White House situation room to monitor progress of the
raid. CIA Director Leon Panetta reported progress from
the nearby command centre at the CIA headquarters.
Osama bin
Laden Death
Facts - 19: On board the two
Black Hawks, were 23 United States Navy SEALs, a
translator and a Belgian Malinois tracking dog called
Cairo. Three of the Seals were specifically tasked to
seek out Osama bin Laden.
Osama bin
Laden Death
Facts - 20:
Operation Neptune Spear: The plan was for
one of the Black Hawk helicopters to hover over the
house in the compound allowing the Seals to clamber down
ropes onto the roof. The second helicopter was to drop
its team into the grounds of the compound.
Osama bin
Laden Death
Facts -
21:
Operation Neptune Spear: In order to attract
minimal attention, it was planned for the two Black
Hawks to join the back-up Chinook helicopters in a
deserted area just 10-minute flight from the compound,
and return to collect the Seals when the mission was
completed.
Osama bin
Laden Death
Facts -
22: Despite the
meticulous planning, Operation Neptune Spear began to go
wrong almost as soon as the helicopters reached the
compound.
Osama bin
Laden Death
Facts -
23: CIA Director Leon
Panetta later said that he, and those in the White House
situation room, were in the dark for "around 20-25
minutes" as to what was actually going on in the
compound.
Osama bin
Laden Death
Facts -
24: The Black Hawk
helicopter hovering over the roof of the house lost its
lift power as it began to rapidly jerk around in the
heat-thinned air. The pilot was forced to make a hard
landing inside the compound, but its tail and rotor
blade got caught on one of the high walls.
Osama bin
Laden Death
Facts -
25: The second Black
Hawk immediately landed outside the walls. The Seals
scrambled out of the helicopters. They had lost the
element of surprise and had no alternative but to blast
their way into the compound to get to the main house.
Osama bin
Laden Death
Facts -
26:
Ibrahim Ahmed opened fire and he and his wife were
killed in the returning fire. The Seals moved into the
main building and Abrar Ahmed and his wife
Bushra were killed on the ground
floor of the house.
Osama bin
Laden Death
Facts -
27: The Seals made
their way up the stairs where they met Osama bin Laden's
adult son, Khalid Bin Laden, who was shot and killed.
Osama bin
Laden Death
Facts -
28: Three Seals
reached the top floor of the house where they found
Osama bin Laden. His wife Amal shouted and moved in
front of her husband trying to protect him. She
was pushed aside and Osama bin Laden was shot and killed
by one bullet above the left eye and another to the
chest.
Osama bin
Laden Death
Facts -
29: Following the
death of the Al-Qaeda leader, photographs were taken of
his body. One of the Seals radioed his commander with
"Geronimo EKIA". Geronimo was the code name for Osama
bin Laden and the military term "EKIA" stood for "Enemy
killed in action".
Osama bin
Laden Death
Facts -
30: The message of the
death was relayed to the White House where President
Obama is said to have received the news with the terse,
abrupt comment "We got him".
Osama bin
Laden Death
Facts -
31: The Seals began to
collect documents and computer harddrives from the
compound as Osama bin Laden's body was loaded on to the
remaining Black Hawk helicopter. One of the back-up
Chinooks flew in to collect the team from the damaged
helicopter.
Osama bin
Laden Death
Facts -
32: The remaining inhabitants, a group of
three women and 13 children, two girls and 11 boys were
bound with plastic ties.
Osama bin
Laden Death
Facts -
33: The Seals
destroyed the damaged stealth helicopter with
explosives. The tail section of the top secret modified
helicopter survived the explosion revealing
modifications to muffle noise and reduce the chances of
detection by radar.
Osama bin
Laden Death
Facts -
34: The Navy Seals
left the compound for the US air base in Bagram,
Afghanistan. The body of Osama bin Laden was then flown
to the USS Carl Vinson, a US aircraft carrier in the
north Arabian sea. His body was prepared for burial "in
conformance with Islamic precepts and practice", placed
in a weighted bag and dropped into the water from the
deck of the vessel.
Osama bin
Laden Death
Facts -
35: The raid took 40
minutes. There were no deaths or injuries to the Navy
Seals. Besides the death of Osama bin Laden four other
people in the compound were killed and there were minor
injuries to other inhabitants.
Osama bin
Laden Death
Facts -
36:
On the same day of the raid, 2 May 2011, President Obama
addressed the Nation to announce the death of the
world's most wanted man.
Osama bin
Laden Death
Facts -
37:
President Obama said "...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..."
Osama bin
Laden Death
Facts for kids
Osama bin Laden Death - President Barack Obama Video
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