Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has been killed by a team of U.S. operatives earlier today after a firefight at a house in Pakistan where he had been hiding, President Barack Obama said.
“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,” Obama said in a late-night televised address from the White House.
Obama delivered the news to the nation almost 10 years after the Sept. 11 attacks that bin Laden orchestrated. Bin Laden was killed, along with other members of his family in a mansion outside Islamabad, an official said. Almost 3,000 people were killed on Sept. 11, most at the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Virginia just outside of Washington.
The administration briefed congressional officials ahead of the president’s address.
Obama and his predecessor, former President George W. Bush, made capturing Bin Laden a key national security priority. Obama has called the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan the “epicenter of violent extremism,” where he said al-Qaeda leader bin Laden was hiding.
Obama said bin Laden was killed today by U.S. assets during a “firefight” outside of Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. The president said he authorized an attack on bin Laden’s compound after he determined last week there was enough intelligence to take action.
‘Painstaking’ Work
Bin Laden’s killing came after years of “painstaking” work by the U.S. intelligence community, Obama said.
Obama said that shortly after taking office in 2009, he directed Central Intelligence Agency Director Leon Panetta to make the killing or capture of bin Laden the “top priority” in the war against al-Qaeda. In August, Obama was briefed on a possible lead to bin Laden, he said.
“Tonight we are once again reminded that America can do whatever we set our mind to,” Obama said. “That is the story of our history.”
The news brought a cheering, chanting crowd outside the White House fence before Obama was set to appear on television.
Obama warned that the fight against terrorism is not ended with the death of bin Laden.
“There’s no doubt that al Qaeda will continue to pursue attacks against us,” he said.
