Osama bin Laden Killed, His Corpse Buried in the Sea

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al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden
Photo courtesy: Associated Press

Two dozen American CIA paramilitary and Navy SEAL personnel in a pre-dawn helicopter raid on a mansion at Abbotabad, Pakistan, killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in a firefight on May 1, reports CBCNews. The raiders also left Pakistan safe with the corpse of Bin Laden. It marks the end of the 10-year hunt for the world’s top terrorist who had directly ordered the destruction of the twin towers in New York on September 11, 2001.

US President Barack Obama in a TV statement from the White House declared: “I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda and a terrorist who is responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women and children.”

On the background on the US war on terrorism, the President said: “We quickly learned that the 9/11 attacks were carried out by al-Qaeda – an organization headed by Osama bin Laden, which had openly declared war on the United States and was committed to killing innocents in our country and around the globe. And so we went to war against al Qaeda to protect our citizens, our friends, and our allies.”

He also added: “And on nights like this one, we can say to those families who have lost loved ones to al-Qaeda’s terror: Justice has been done.”

The US intelligence, on receiving information on the location of bin Laden, has been monitoring the Abbotabad compound since August, 2010. After being sure of bin Laden’s presence in the compound, the May 1 raid came with approval of President Obama. The raid was completed within 40 minutes and the raiders left Pakistan for Afghanistan.

After confirming the identification of the dead body of bin Laden by DNA and other means, the body was buried in the Arabian Sea after following proper Muslim ritual and practice. His corpse is destined to become a feed for the sea fishes. The main reason for burying him in the sea is not to allow a shrine or a place of pilgrimage be built over his body from where extremist Muslims in future would draw inspiration for committing more terrorism.

Jubilation in the US and Abroad

The US citizens, especially families that lost their loved ones on the 9/11 al-Qaeda attacks by planes, expressed their joy and felt some sort of relief.

Various leaders of the world and the UN Security Council expressed their satisfaction at the achievement of the US.

Newspapers in the US and world, in their May 2 issues, gave a prominent first-page coverage on the death of Osama bin Laden.