CIA operation kills Osama bin Laden in Pakistan
U.S. government officials say the decadelong hunt for the Al Qaeda leader who ordered the Sept. 11 attacks is over.
By Los Angeles Times Staff
8:37 PM PDT, May 1, 2011
A CIA-led operation has killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan and recovered his body after a tortuous decadelong hunt for the elusive militant leader who commanded the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, U.S. government officials said Sunday night.
CIA Director Leon Panetta called key members of Congress late Sunday to describe the killing of the Al Qaeda leader, and President Obama is expected to make the announcement on national TV.
The U.S. and allied countries invaded Afghanistan following the Sept. 11 attacks because the Taliban government there was sheltering Bin Laden. The Taliban were ousted from power, but the Al Qaeda leader was not captured. The United States has been at war in Afghanistan ever since.
It has long been suspected that Bin Laden was hiding in the mountainous region along the Afghan-Pakistani border, and U.S. Predator drone attacks had grown frequent there. Civilian casualties in those strikes had led to friction between the U.S. and Pakistan.
- -
| 