THE world’s most wanted man
Osama bin Laden died a coward,
it was revealed last night.
The terror warlord was blasted
through the eye, and once more in the
chest, by US Special Forces – cowering
behind his wife as he used her as a
human shield.
Al-Qaida boss bin Laden, 54, was killed in
a fortifi ed mansion in Pakistan.
The mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, who
refused to surrender when elite Navy Seals
burst in, used his youngest wife Amal al-
Sada to try to keep his attackers at bay.
She called out his name – accidentally
confi rming his identity to the raid party.
Amal died in the shoot-out along with one
of bin Laden’s sons and three guards.
Movie
The shoot-to-kill operation – codenamed
Geronimo – was relayed back to Washington
via headcams.
President Barack Obama and his
Secretary Of State Hillary Clinton watched
the entire drama unfold like a live computer
game on a big screen in the White House’s
Situation Room.
After bin Laden died, the troops radioed
back the key message “Geronimo E-KIA” –
enemy killed in action.
Within hours, Obama told the world:
“Justice has been done”, sparking wild
celebrations across the US.
Thousands of people in New York and
Washington, where bin Laden killed nearly
3,000 people in September 2001, danced in
the street, chanting: “USA! USA!”
The story of the astonishing operation
reads like the script of a blockbuster
Hollywood movie. Blackhawk helicopters
ferried around two dozen troops into bin
Laden’s hideout. The men slid down ropes
from the hovering choppers, triggering
panic among bin Laden’s henchmen.
The compound, in the garrison town of
Abbottabad just 50 miles north of
Pakistan’s capital Islamabad, had been
identifi ed by the CIA.
It is surrounded by 20ft walls topped by
barbed wire and is just a few hundred yards
from Pakistan’s top military academy – the
equivalent of the British Army’s school at
Sandhurst.
The Seals dynamited their way through
the walls as bin Laden’s bodyguards blasted
off volleys of gunfi re and rockets.
And the Americans – whose motto is
“Don’t bother running. You will only die
tired” – were in and out in just 40 minutes.
Their strict orders were to “kill not
capture” and they left with bin Laden’s
corpse. One Pentagon insider said last
night: “It was mission accomplished.”
The top-secret raid was unwittingly
captured on Twitter by an IT consultant
living in a neighbouring house.
Sohaib Athar wrote: “A huge windowshaking
bang here in Abbottabad. I hope
it’s not the start of something nasty.”
Later, facial recognition techniques and
DNA analysis were used to confi rm the
body was bin Laden.
The FBI took DNA samples when his
sister died of cancer several years ago.
Within 24 hours, in line with Muslim
tradition, the body was buried – at sea, to
deny his Jihad followers a burial shrine.
Bin Laden’s body was dropped, in a
weighted bag, from the deck of an aircraft
carrier in the Arabian Sea after he received
a religious funeral.
Mr Obama said the world was now a safer
place but cautioned: “There’s no doubt that
al-Qaida will continue to pursue attacks
against us.”
Prime Minister David Cameron said bin
Laden’s death would “bring great relief to
people across the world”.