Washington: DNA tests have confirmed that Osama Bin Laden is dead, a senior US official said on Monday, a day after a daring raid by US special forces on his compound in Pakistan.
Related articles:
In pictures: The life of Osama Bin Laden
Global reaction following Bin Laden's death
Al Qaida lost its relevancy years ago
Gulf News opinion: Osama dead, fight goes on
World stocks rise after death of Bin Laden
Osama Bin Laden: Most wanted face of terrorism
In focus: Osama Bin Laden
High alert
Baghdad: Iraq's army and police went on high alert on Monday for possible revenge attacks in one of Al Qaida's major battlegrounds after US forces killed Osama Bin Laden in a raid on his Pakistan hideout.
Oil infrastructure, power stations and bridges could be targets of militant attacks, security sources said, to prove Bin Laden's death has not disrupted operations in Iraq, still an important arena for the Islamist group eight years after the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussain.
Former US President George W. Bush referred to Iraq as part of the US "war on terror" although no link was found between Saddam's regime and the September 11 attacks. It became a battlefield for Al Qaida after the invasion.
Iraqi and US forces have scored big victories against al Qaeda's Iraq affiliate but the Sunni Islamist insurgency remains lethal and carries out dozens of attacks each month.
"We have issued orders to intensify security measures in the street," said Major-General Hassan Al Baidhani of the Baghdad operations command. "We 100 per cent expect attacks."
The Iraqi government welcomed the news of Bin Laden's death.
The US military still has about 47,000 troops in Iraq.
"We recognise that the death of Bin Laden may result in a violent reaction from Al Qaida in Iraq and other extremist organisations that loosely affiliate with the al Qaeda network," US military spokesman Colonel Barry Johnson said. He would not comment on any changes in operations as a result of the death.
Iraqi security sources said they had received intelligence that al Qaeda would carry out reprisal attacks and that markets, religious shrines and infrastructure could be hit.
War-weary Iraqis appeared to welcome the news.
"In my life, I have never seen a criminal like this person (bin Laden), who took the religion of Islam to serve his own purpose," said Ibrahim Ali Hamdi, 68, a farmer who lost a son to Al Qaida in 2006.
Most Wanted terrorists
Washington: The FBI has updated its list of Most Wanted terrorists to note that Osama Bin Laden - for whom a $27 million reward was being offered - is dead.
However nine other highly sought after terrorists are still included on the FBI's list, including Bin Laden's deputy, Ayman Al Zawahiri, for whom the US government has a $25 million reward tag.
The reward would be in return for information leading to his capture or conviction. Private groups have added $2 million in rewards on top of the $25 million bounty placed on bin Laden.
Senior Al Qaida member vows revenge
Cairo: A top Al Qaida ideologue vowed revenge Monday for the killing of Osama Bin Laden by US forces, in the first jihadist admission of the militant leader's death.
The prominent commentator, going by the online name "Assad al-Jihad2," posted on extremist websites a long eulogy for Bin Laden and promised to "avenge the killing of the Shaikh of Islam".
He also announced that anyone thinking the jihad had ended just had to "wait a little bit".
"The battle between us and international tyranny is long and will not be stopped by the martyrdom of our beloved one, the lion of Islam," said al-Jihad2, whose own online name means lion of jihad. "How many martyrdom seekers have born today?"
Bin Laden's likely successor
For years, Osama Bin Laden's charisma kept Al Qaida's ranks filled with zealous recruits.
But it was the strategic thinking and the organizational skills of his Egyptian right hand man that kept the terror network together after the United States invaded Afghanistan in 2001 and pushed Al Qaida out.
With Bin Laden killed, Ayman Al Zawahri becomes the top candidate for the world's top terror job.
Analysts predict that under Al Zawahri, Al Qaida would likely be further radicalised, unleashing a new wave of attacks to avenge Bin Laden's killing by US troops in Pakistan on Monday to send a message that it's business as usual.
Al Zawahri is known for his extremist views and his readiness to use deadly violence. The alliance established Al Zawahri as bin Laden's deputy and soon after came the bombings of the US embassies in Africa, followed by the 2000 suicide bombing of the USS Cole off the coast of Yemen, an attack Al Zawahri is believed to have helped organise.
Bin Laden killed Sunday
Islamabad/Washington: Al Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden was killed Sunday in a firefight with US forces in Pakistan and his body was recovered, President Barack Obama said on Sunday.
"Justice has been done," Obama said in a dramatic, late-night White House speech announcing the death of the elusive mastermind of the 9/11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington that killed nearly 3,000 people.
It is was major accomplishment for Obama and his national security team and could give him a political boost as he seeks re-election in 2012.
Bin Laden, the 17th of 52 children, was born in 1957. By then, his father was a phenomenally rich construction magnate with connections to Saudi Arabia's ruling family, the Al Sauds. His royal connections won him lucrative contracts to build palaces in Riyadh and the highway from Medina to Jeddah, including the reconstruction of the Makkah mosque.
And it was at least a huge symbolic blow to Al Qaida, the militant organization that has staged bloody attacks in many western and Arab countries cities and has been the subject of a worldwide campaign against it.
Crowds jammed the streets around Ground Zero early Monday to celebrate the death of Osama Bin Laden, mastermind of the September 11 attacks that left deep-rooted scars on New York.
Obama said US forces led a targeted operation that killed Bin Laden in Abbotabad north of Islamabad. No Americans were killed in the operation and they took care to avoid civilian casualties, he said.
In Washington, thousands of people gathered quickly outside the White House, waving American flags, cheering and chanting "USA, USA, USA." Car drivers blew their horns in celebration and people streamed to Lafayette Park across from the presidential mansion. Police vehicles with their lights flashing stood vigil.
"I'm down here to witness the history. My boyfriend is commissioning as a Marine next week. So I'm really proud of the troops," Laura Vogler, a junior at American University in Washington, said outside the White House.
Many Americans had given up hope of ever finding bin Laden after he vanished in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan in late 2001 as U.S. and allied forces invaded the country in response to the Sept. 11 attacks. Intelligence that originated last August provided the clues that eventually led to bin Laden's trail, the president said. A U.S. official said Obama gave the final order to pursue the operation last Friday morning.
"The United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaida and a terrorist who is responsible for the murder of thousands of men, women and children," Obama said. A crowd gathered in Lafayette Park outside the White House erupted in jubilation at the news. Hundreds of people waved flags, hugged and cheered.
According to intelligence officials, bin Laden was killed in a helicopter raid on a mansion in an area north of the Pakistani capital.
Four helicopters launched the attack in the Bilal area of Abbottabad, about 100 kilometers north of Islamabad, said a Pakistani intelligence official. One of the helicopters crashed after it apparently was hit by fire from the ground, the official said. He gave no word on casualties.
He said the helicopters took off from a Pakistani air base in the north of the country. Women and children were taken into custody during the raid, he said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.
A US official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the raid was on a mansion close to Islamabad.
The operation also left three other men and a woman dead, including a son of the Al Qaida chief, officials said.
"In addition to Osama bin Laden, three adult males were killed in the raid," a US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told reporters.
Two of the men worked as couriers for Bin Laden and the third was believed to be an adult son of Bin Laden, the official said. "One woman was killed when she was used as a shield by a male combatant. Two other women were injured" in the raid that lasted less than 40 minutes, the official added.
Former President George W. Bush, who famously vowed to bring bin Laden to justice "dead or alive" but never did, called the operation a "momentous achievement" after Obama called him with the news.
Statements of appreciation poured in from both sides of Washington's often divided political divide. Republican Senator John McCain declared, "I am overjoyed that we finally got the world's top terrorist." Said former President Bill Clinton: "I congratulate the president, the national security team and the members of our armed forces on bringing Osama bin Laden to justice after more than a decade of murderous al Qaeda attacks."
Having the body may help convince any doubters that bin Laden is really dead.
Bin Laden had been hunted since he eluded US soldiers and Afghan militia forces in a large-scale assault on the Tora Bora mountains of Afghanistan close to the Pakistan frontier in 2001.
The trail quickly went cold after he disappeared and many intelligence officials believed he had been hiding in Pakistan.
While in hiding, Bin Laden had taunted the West and advocated his militant Islamist views in videotapes spirited from his hideaway.
Besides 9/11, Washington has also linked bin Laden to a string of attacks - including the 1998 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and the 2000 bombing of the warship USS Cole in Yemen.
