Osama bin Laden dead: DNA evidence 'proves Al Qaeda leader's death'

Published on Monday 2 May 2011 17:31

THE DNA evidence taken from the body of Osama bin Laden proves with 99.9% accuracy that the Al Qaeda leader is dead, according to US officials.

• Pakistan troops patrol outside the compound where Osama bin Laden, inset, was in hiding. Picture: AP

The Obama administration officials did not say where or how the testing was done but the test explains why President Barack Obama was confident to announce the death to the world last night.

After the firefight that killed Bin Laden, the US used "multiple methods" to positively identify his remains, according to a senior Pentagon official who personally saw a photograph of the corpse.

The US is believed to have collected DNA samples from Bin Laden family members in the years since the September 11, 2001 attacks that triggered the US-led invasion of Afghanistan. It was unclear whether the US also had fingerprints or some other means to identify the body on site.

Bin Laden was killed during a raid last night by US special forces on a compound in the Pakistan town of Abbottabad, about 50 miles from the capital Islamabad.

The news prompted patriotic celebrations by Americans at ground zero in New York, the site of the 9/11 atrocity which Bin Laden masterminded, and outside the White House in Washington.

The operation began at around 10.30pm (5.30pm GMT) and lasted about 45 minutes. Two or three helicopters were seen flying low over the area, and one unwitting local man blogged about the operation on Twitter.

US officials have revealed their "shock" when they first saw the "extraordinarily unique" compound housing the terrorist leader.

The one million dollar high-security compound stood out with its 12 to 18-foot walls and two security gates protecting a house roughly eight times larger than any others in the area, Obama administration officials said.

Built in 2005 at the end of what was then a narrow dirt road on the outskirts of the town centre, the main structure, a three-storey building, has few windows facing the outside of the compound.

"When we saw the compound, we were shocked by what we saw - an extraordinarily unique compound," the officials said. "The physical security measures of the compound are extraordinary."

President Obama announced the death of Bin Laden in a live television address to the nation, in which he called the operation "a testament to the greatness of our country and the determination of the American people".

Later, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Al Qaeda that the killing of Bin Laden proves the terrorist network cannot defeat the United States.

Mrs Clinton urged members of the group to abandon violence and rejoin society following Bin Laden's death, which she described as a "milestone" in the war on terrorism.

She stressed that the "battle to stop Al Qaeda and its syndicate of terror" is not over, but stressed that the operation to find and kill Bin Laden nearly a decade after the 9/11 terror attacks showed the US would never abandon its pursuit of justice.

It has also emerged that detainees interrogated in the wake of the September 11 terror attacks gave US intelligence agents the breakthrough they needed to hunt down Bin Laden.

Controversial torture-style techniques - including water-boarding, stress positions and sleep deprivation - were approved to be used on prisoners during the Bush administration and have been widely criticised by human rights groups.

But intelligence gained from such interrogations was hailed by US officials as being directly responsible for helping security forces hunt down and kill Bin Laden.

Prisoners interrogated by US officials in the wake of the 2001 terror attacks identified a specific "courier" who provided direct support to Bin Laden after he fled Afghanistan, eventually tracking him to the compound where the terrorist mastermind was killed, the Obama administration said.

The revelation will fuel the debate over the use of such interrogation techniques and whether the ends justify the means.

Read more:

• UK warns of reprisal strikes

• Outbreak of patriotism as Americans rejoice

• Terrorist leader found near 'Pakistan's Sandhurst'

• Afghan leader says focus should turn to Pakistan

• President Obama's statement in full

• 9/11 families welcome news

• 7/7 victims' families react to news

• How one man inadvertently broke the news on Twitter

• In pictures: World reacts to the death of Osama bin Laden