May 2nd, 2011: Osama bin Laden killed by U.S. forces

On May 2, 2011, Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States, is killed by U.S. forces during a raid on his compound hideout in Pakistan. The notorious, 54-year-old leader of Al Qaeda, the terrorist network of Islamic extremists, had been the target of a nearly decade-long international manhunt.



The raid began around 1 a.m. local time (4 p.m. EST on May 1, 2011 in the United States), when 23 U.S. Navy SEALs in two Black Hawk helicopters descended on the compound in Abbottabad, a tourist and military center north of Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad. One of the helicopters crash-landed into the compound but no one aboard was hurt.


During the raid, which lasted approximately 40 minutes, five people, including bin Laden and one of his adult sons, were killed by U.S. gunfire. No Americans were injured in the assault. Afterward, bin Laden’s body was flown by helicopter to Afghanistan for official identification, then buried at an undisclosed location in the Arabian Sea less than 24 hours after his death, in accordance with Islamic practice.


Just after 11:30 p.m. EST on May 1 (Pakistan’s time zone is 9 hours ahead of Washington, D.C.), President Barack Obama, who monitored the raid in real time via footage shot by a drone flying high above Abbottabad, made a televised address from the White House, announcing bin Laden’s death. “Justice has been done,” the president said. After hearing the news, cheering crowds gathered outside the White House and in New York City’s Times Square and the Ground Zero site.

Nearly two years ago on the 18th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Navy SEAL Rob O’Neill shared his memory of killing one of the attack’s masterminds — Osama bin Laden.


In a Sept. 11, 2019 tweet, O’Neill, who is personally credited for taking the shot that killed bin Laden, described the final moments of the terror leader’s life during the SEAL Team 6 raid on Bin Laden’s Pakistan compound on May 2, 2011 local time, and May 1 in the U.S. Then-President Barack Obama announced the terrorist leader’s death in a televised address to the nation on the night of May 1, 2011.


“Osama bin Laden died scared shitless. Hiding behind his wife,” O’Neill said.

Lummy wrote:I believe Osama was killed as has been explained.  Why Obama tried to make it look like he was not is a mystery, but perhaps out of respect for the religion that, like Obama, hates America. If it were true that he wasn't killed, the media would have discovered it a long time ago, and the lie would be focus to their attention to this day, it seems to me. More importantly, just the malevolent, lingering question would accomplish the effect Obama was possibly looking for, IMHO. I don't know.

jirqoadai wrote:dont you find it just alittle suspicious that a 6' 4" paki man could walk around his compound daily for five years before someone taking notice of this " realy tall dude " being near the afghan border? and the action was taken right before the monkey kings re-election? he survives kidney failure, typhus, eating pigshit, and can only be taken out by the forces of good? and then, " we got him good finaly but dont have the body to prove it ".

Peter1469 wrote:

jirqoadai wrote:dont you find it just alittle suspicious that a 6' 4" paki man could walk around his compound daily for five years before someone taking notice of this " realy tall dude " being near the afghan border? and the action was taken right before the monkey kings re-election? he survives kidney failure, typhus, eating pigshit, and can only be taken out by the forces of good? and then, " we got him good finaly but dont have the body to prove it ".

The compound was surrounded by a wall taller than 6' 4".  And OBL was Yemeni, not a Paki.