Osama bin Laden, head of al-Qaeda and mastermind of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, is dead and his body is in possession of the United States government. His death was confirmed late this evening by President Barack Obama (D) in a hastily organized press conference at the White House around 11:35pm EDT.
According to Obama, bin Laden was killed in a U.S. operation at a compound outside of Islamabad, Pakistan earlier today. No Americans were harmed in the operation, but bin Laden was killed in a firefight before he could be brought into custody. His body was taken into U.S. possession and confirmed to be that of the terror mastermind. He had been hiding out in a mansion compound near the Pakistani capital at least since August of last year, not in the tribal areas between Afghanistan and Pakistan as previously believed. Cooperation with the Pakistani intelligence agencies was instrumental in finding and killing bin Laden.
Bin Laden was head of al-Qaeda, a radical Islamic terrorist group responsible for countless acts of mass murder, including the September 11 attacks, the attack on the U.S.S. Cole, embassy bombings, train bombings in the U.K. and Spain, and more.
Hundreds of people have already gathered at the White House in Washington, DC, in jubilant celebration with American flags and chants of, “U.S.A.”