WASHINGTON – It’s been more than a decade since former Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden was killed in a covert operation conducted by a team of US Navy Seals in Pakistan.
In the early morning hours of May 02, 2011, a group of 25 Navy Seals conducted a raid at the compound in Abbottabad, the city where Bin Laden was hiding out.
The Abbottabad compound was located near a narrow dirt road and was unusually bigger than other residences in locality, however, there were no connections.
Officials started the preparations for operation as Washington was informed about a high-value target. Former US president Obama presided over five national security meetings at the White House to go over plans for the operation and ordered Navy Seals and CIA to strike.
The chief of the international terror network was eliminated nearly a decade after the September 11 attacks and his death was seen as a strategic blow to the banned outfit.
Then US President Barack Obama announced the development, saying the most hunted man in the world was killed and ‘justice has been done’. Some officials claimed that Bin Laden struggled the ambush and was shot in the head.
Obama then called the former president and PPP Chairman Asif Ali Zardari about the operation after it was set in motion. Soon after the announcement, many US citizens rushed to the streets and celebrated the event calling it a historic moment.
Many termed Laden’s killing a defining moment in the US battle against terrorism, while some questioned the secretive burial of the former Al Qaeda chief and pointed out distorted facts in the operation. Laden’s followers also called him a martyr as he played a crucial part the in the Afghan war.
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However, the former most wanted terrorist was more symbolically significant than operationally significant as he hindered in any meaningful leadership role while leading an extremist movement.
