Osama Bin Laden Is Dead

MANILA, Philippines – Osama bin Laden was killed in a mansion outside Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, following a joint operation of the United States military and Pakistani forces few hours ago.

The death of the notorious al-Qaeda leader came almost 10 years after the US government spearheaded the manhunt operation against him following the 9/11 attack, leaving nearly 3,000 Americans dead.

In a statement, US President Barack Obama said he authorized a special operation against Osama today, while citing that US operatives have the body of the notorious al-Qaeda leader who remained elusive for nearly 10 years on the hunt against him.

Obama said the notorious terrorist was killed in Abbotabad, a mountainous town located some 60 kilometers north of Islamabad, while noting that U.S. cooperation with Pakistani counterparts led to the location of bin Laden.

“For the last 10 years, thanks to the tireless and heroic works of our military and our counter-terrorism professionals, we disrupted terrorist attacks and strengthened our homeland defense,” he said.

Amid Osama’s elusiveness to justice for nearly a decade, the US leader said he directed the director of the Central Intelligence Agency to “make the killing or capture of bin Ladin a top priority of our war against al-Qaeda.”

Obama pointed out that he was briefed in August last year of a possible location of the al-Qaeda leader, hiding in a compound outside the capital of Pakistan.

“It took us many months to run this (operation) to ground… And finally, last week, I determined that we have enough intelligence to take action and authorized an operation to get bin Laden,” he noted.

“Today, at my direction, the United States carried out an operation. A small team of American carried out the operation with extreme capability. After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body,” he pointed out.

A Pakistani intelligence official, poke on condition of anonymity, said four helicopters launched the attack in the Bilal area of Abbottabad. One of the helicopters crashed after it apparently was hit by fire from the ground. He said the helicopters took off from a Pakistani air base in the north of the country.

The US President added that the death of bin Laden marked the significant achievement in the US campaign to defeat al-Qaeda, while citing that “the United States will not and is not at war with Islam”.

Meantime, outside The White House, thousands of U.S. residents are cheering, shouting "USA!", waving flags while singing the "Star Spangled Banner".

Al-Qaeda and Abu Sayyaf connection

Meantime, the U.S. government believed there were strong connections between Osama's al-Qaeda terrorist network and the local Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) here.

Early U.S. reports revealed that Muhammad Jamal Khalifa, brother-in-law of Osama, met with ASG founder Abdurajak Janjalani in the 1990s.

ASG terrorists were trained by Ramzi Yousef, who was convicted in 1993 in the World Trade Center bombing, and who himself has links to Al Qaeda. Under the leadership of Janjalani, ASG was included in the international network of Islamic militants that was getting support from Osama. (philstar.com)