A top secret operation involving a small team of US special forces was responsible for an attack on bin Laden's hideout early on Sunday, US time. US Department of State and FBI released this "age progressed" photograph of Osama Bin Laden last year. The Saudi-born terrorist, who had evaded capture for a decade, was killed in the ensuing firefight. "After a firefight they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body," US President Barack Obama said. A US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told reporters that one of bin Laden's sons was killed along with two other men and a women.

''One woman was killed when she was used as a shield by a male combatant. Two other women were injured,'' the official added. Pakistani news television channels, including GEO and Express News, broadcast a still photograph of what they reported to be bin Laden's body but it is a fake that has appeared on the internet before. As news about bin Laden's death spread across Washington, hundreds of people congregated outside the White House chanting "USA" and singing the American national anthem. Many waved US flags. Rumsfeld's office broke news The news spread quickly after apparently being tweeted first from the office of former US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld.

After a firefight they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body Before Obama made his announcement, Rumsfeld's chief of staff, Keith Urbahn, said on Twitter: "So I'm told by a reputable person they have killed Osama Bin Laden. Hot damn." Earlier, Mr Obama telephoned key international allies, as well as members of Congress, alerting them to the news. He said US intelligence sources had latched on to bin Laden's whereabouts last August. In the days since he had regularly met security officials plotting the terrorist leader's demise. He had given the final go-ahead for the operation over the weekend. He described the development as "the most significant achievement to date in our efforts to defeat al-Qaeda".

Bin Laden had been hunted following a series of attacks on Western targets that culminated in the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington that levelled the twin towers of the World Trade Centre and hit the Pentagon, killing more than 2500 people. The attacks drew the US into long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Bin Laden, 54, had been hiding in Abbotabad, about 60 kilometres from Rawalpindi in Pakistan and a gateway to the spectacular Kagan Valley. Mr Obama said Pakistani intelligence sources had been supportive of the operation, which CNN said took 40 minutes. Navy SEALs from the Naval Special Warfare Development Group DEVGRU, an elite counter-terrorism unit were reported to have carried out the operation on the ground backed up by an RQ-170 drone overhead, the White House correspondent for the National Journal, Marc Ambinder, said.

'Justice has been done'

"Justice has been done," Mr Obama said. "Today's achievement is testament to the greatness of our country." ''The death of bin Laden marks the most significant achievement to date in our nation's efforts to defeat al Qaeda. ''Yet his death does not mark the end of our effort. ''There is no doubt that al Qaeda will continue to pursue attacks against us.

''We must and will remain vigilant at home and abroad.'' Obama reaffirmed that the US was not at war with Islam. ''I've made clear just as president Bush did shortly after 9/11 that our war is not against Islam. Bin Laden was not a muslim leader, he was mass murderer of Muslims.'' ''So his demise should be welcomed by all who believe in peace and human dignity.'' Cooperation with Pakistan

Mr Obama said co-operation with Pakistan had helped lead the US to bin Laden in Abbottabad, which was named after Major James Abbott, the first British Deputy Commissioner of Hazara, who founded the city in 1853. Bin Laden, a Saudi national, is believed to have established terrorist group al-Qaeda, which means ''The Base'' in Arabic, in 1998. He used his family's wealth - accumulated through Saudi Arabia's oil boom - to set up training camps in Afghanistan and to plan attacks against other countries. He has been blamed for other terrorist attacks, including the bombing of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and the 2000 bombing of the destroyer USS Cole in Yemen. Following the attacks on the US, the US led a coalition of military forces to overthrow the Taliban - who refused to hand over bin Laden - in Afghanistan.

A manhunt for bin Laden by the US has continued for the past decade following a massive military assault in the mountains of Tora Bora in 2001. Most wanted Bin Laden was on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list and a reward of $US50 million had been offered by the US Department of State for information leading to his capture. The news brought a cheering, chanting crowd outside the White House fence. He has been the subject of many news stories reporting his death and was rumoured to be hiding out in Pakistan, Afghanistan and even Iran at different points since 2001.

The first prominent report came in December 2001, when Fox News picked up a Pakistan Observer article that bin Laden died of untreated lung complications in Tora Bora, a cave complex in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan. During the following 10 months a number of people, including then-US defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, CNN talking head Sanjay Gupta and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, speculated that the terrorism chief was missing or probably dead. Three years later, in April 2005, ANU terrorism expert Clive Williams said he believed bin Laden died of organ failure in April 2004. In September 2006 speculation came out of France that bin Laden had died from typhoid fever in Pakistan a month earlier. The report, attributed to the French secret service, was played down by the defense minster and then-French president.

Pakistani politician Benazir Bhutto said in November 2007 that Omar Sheikh had murdered bin Laden. The statement, made during an interview with David Frost, was not widely picked up on or pursued. During the next four years a growing number of academics and South Asian political figures speculated bin Laden had been dead for a number of years. Loading - with agencies, Glenda Kwek, Georgina Robinson and Stephanie Gardiner





