Operation Neptune Spear (May 2, 2011)

Operation Neptune Spear (May 2, 2011). Hillsborough County Veterans Memorial Park. , Osama bin Laden, the former head of the Islamist militant group Al-Qaeda, was killed in Pakistan on May 2, 2011, local time by Navy SEALs of the U.S. Naval Special Warfare Development Group (also known as DEVGRU or SEAL Team Six). The operation, code-named Operation Neptune Spear, was carried out in a Central Intelligence Agency-led operation. In addition to DEVGRU, participating units included the U.S. Army Special Operations Command’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) and CIA operatives. The raid on bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, was launched from Afghanistan. After the raid, U.S. forces took bin Laden’s body to Afghanistan for identification, then buried at sea within 24 hours of his death. , , Al-Qaeda confirmed the death on May 6 with posts made on militant websites, vowing to avenge the killing. Other Pakistani militant groups, including the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, also vowed retaliation against the U.S. and against Pakistan for not preventing the operation. Bin Laden’s killing was generally favorably received by U.S. public opinion, was welcomed by the United Nations, NATO, the European Union, and a large number of governments, but was condemned by some, including Fidel Castro of Cuba and Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the Hamas administration of the Gaza Strip. Legal and ethical aspects of the killing, such as his not being taken alive despite being unarmed, were questioned by others including Amnesty International. Also controversial was the decision to not release any photographic or DNA evidence of bin Laden’s death to the public. , , The SEALs encountered the residents in the compound’s guest house, in the main building on the first floor where two adult males lived, and on the second and third floors where bin Laden lived with his family. The second and third floors were the last section of the compound to be cleared. There were reportedly “small knots of children…on every level, including the balcony of bin Laden’s room.” , , In addition to Osama bin Laden, three other men and a woman were killed in the operation. The individuals killed were bin Laden’s adult son Khalid, bin Laden’s courier (Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti), al-Kuwaiti’s brother Abrar, and Abrar’s wife Bushra. , , There were two weapons near bin Laden in his room including an AKSU rifle and a Russian made Makarov pistol, but according to his wife Amal, he was shot before he could reach his AKSU. According to the Associated Press the guns were on a shelf next to a door and the SEALs did not notice them until they were photographing the body. , , As the SEALs encountered women and children during the raid, they restrained them with plastic handcuffs or zip ties. After the raid was over, U.S. forces moved the surviving residents outside “for Pakistani forces to discover “. The injured Amal Ahmed Abdul Fatah continued to argue to raiders in Arabic. Bin Laden’s 12-year-old daughter Safia was allegedly struck in her foot or ankle by a piece of flying debris. , , While bin Laden’s body was taken by U.S. forces, the bodies of the four others killed in the raid were left behind at the compound and later taken into Pakistani custody. , , (Caption) , , Osama bin Laden making a video at his compound in Pakistan. According to the U.S. Defense Department, the video was seized from the compound during the May 2011 operation by U.S. special forces in which bin Laden was killed.