Osama Bin Laden Dead_How we covered it: Osama bin Laden's death - the fallout

How we covered it: Osama bin Laden's death - the fallout

From: news.com.au
May 06, 2011 6:31AM

HOW news.com.au reported the fallout from Osama bin Laden's death.

All times are AEST

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Thursday May 5, 12.12pm Australian PM Julia Gillard is likely to speak to US President Barack Obama about the killing of Osama bin Laden in the next week.

US ambassador Jeff Bleich says the president "is looking forward to speaking with her".


11.54pm New Zealand's most controversial politician independent Kiwi MP Hone Harawira says we "can't ignore" the positive aspects of the terrorist's life:

We have heard nothing but negative things about him from the Americans, but he fought for the self-determination of his people and for his beliefs. Indeed, despite what the media has said, his family, his tribe, his people are in mourning. They mourn for the man who fought for the rights, the lands and the freedom of his people. We should not damn them in death but acknowledge the positive aspects of life.

11.45am Photos of Osama bin Laden's death are confusing even when you are a senior US politician.

Senator Scott Brown, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, is admitting he had been fooled by a fake photograph of Bin Laden. He earlier told several TV interviewers that he had seen an authentic picture as part of an official briefing.

He argued the image should not be released to the public because it was too graphic and may incite reprisals:

"Listen, I've seen the picture. He's definitely dead. And if there's any conspiracy theories out there, you should put them to rest."

He later put out a one-sentence statement explaining he had been duped by a fake photograph, The Boston Globe reports.

"The photo that I saw and that a lot of other people saw is not authentic."

He isn't telling who showed him the fake photo, why he believed it was authentic, nor why he had suggested he had seen it as part of an official briefing.

11.00am The New York Times has gauged America's reaction to Osama bin Laden's death and produced this fascinating mosaic (see it here). Here's what the paper says about the interactive:

We asked readers the following questions: Was his death significant in our war against terror? And do you have a negative or positive view of this event? Readers — 13,864 of them — answered by plotting a response on the graph and adding a comment to explain the choice. Each light blue dot represents one comment. Darker shades represent multiple comments made on a single point.

Here's a screen grab.

9.20am Shooting Bin Laden dead, whether he was armed or not, is a good thing. That's the opinion of Daily Telegraph writer Paul Toohey in today's Punch. Here's a taste of his argument:

Bin Laden, the most valuable target of all, was in one sense of no value to US interrogators at all; at least, not alive. He would not, presumably, surrender information. And even if he did become a cooperative prisoner, after the Guantanamo debacle there would, doubtless, be perverse demands that Bin Laden, if captured alive, be treated with the utmost respect.

Read the full article here.

8.44am Here's the first photo of Bin Laden's youngest wife, Amal Ahmed Abdul Fatah.


US officials are saying she was the one who lunged at a US Navy SEAL in a desperate attempt to protect her husband.

The woman - identified by a passport found inside Bin Laden's hideout - was in the room when commandos shot the terror chief dead, according to ABC news in the US. She was shot in the leg and later taken into custody.

Fatah is Bin Laden's fifth wife and was the only one living with him in the house. She was "gifted" to him from a Yemeni family when she was just a teenager. She and Bin Laden had three children. Of Bin Laden's other four wives, he divorced one and three had moved to Syria.

In initial accounts of the firefight, White House officials claimed Bin Laden had used his wife as a "human shield".

8.19am That's karma for you. The Dalai Lama says Bin Laden likely deserved his fate.

Speaking last night at the University of Southern California, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader said:

"In the case of Bin Laden, his action was of course destructive and the September 11 events killed thousands of people. So his action must be brought to justice."

8.01am The Australian has a great story on how Bali bomber Umar Patek unwittingly helped lead the US to Bin Laden. Patek was seeking a meeting with Bin Laden when he was arrested only a few kilometres from the al-Qa'ida chief's hideout. Read the full story here.

7.38am Native Americans are demanding an apology from Barack Obama for allowing Special Forces to give Bin Laden the nickname "Geronimo".

In a letter to the White House, the Fort Sill Apache Tribe accuses Obama of tarnishing the famous chief's name. The Navy SEAL responsible for confirming Bin Laden's death radioed "For God and country, Geronimo, Geronimo, Geronimo," immediately after.

The tribe's letter reads:

"Right now Native American children all over this country are facing the reality of having one of their most revered figures being connected to a terrorist and murderer of thousands of innocent Americans. Think about how they feel at this point."


Geronimo, pictured below, was known as a legendary Apache warrior whose ability to walk without leaving footprints allowed him to evade thousands of Mexican and US soldiers.

7.27am Bin Laden appeared to be lunging for a weapon when he was shot, according to AP. With all the contradictory accounts of what went down in the raid, it's going to be hard to take this as absolute fact. Quoting an unnamed US official, the news wire service says:

Several weapons were found in the room where the terror chief died, including AK-47s and personal side arms. Also, a US commando grabbed a woman who charged toward the group. The fear was that she might have been wearing a suicide vest. The Navy SEAL pulled the woman away from his fellow SEALs.

7.05am US Attorney General Eric Holder has responded to claims that the operation to get Bin Laden was unlawful. During a hearing in Congress today, he was asked whether a Navy SEAL "had to believe" the world's most wanted man "was a walking IED" or bomb.

"Exactly," Holder replied.

"If he had surrendered, I think - attempted to surrender - I think we should, obviously, have accepted that. But there was no indication that he wanted to do that. And, therefore, his killing was appropriate. And I'm proud of what they did. And I really want to emphasise that what they did was entirely lawful and consistent with our values."

6.30am Reuters has the following details on the graphic images it obtained of inside Bin Laden's hideout in the aftermath of US raid:

The photos, taken by a Pakistani security official who entered the compound after the early morning raid on Monday, show two men dressed in traditional Pakistani garb and one in a T-shirt, with blood streaming from their ears, noses and mouths. The official, who wished to remain anonymous, sold the pictures to Reuters. None of the men looked like Bin Laden. Based on the time-stamps on the pictures, the earliest one was dated May 2, 2.30am, approximately an hour after the completion of the raid in which Bin Laden was killed.

Reuters is confident the photos are authentic.

6.00am The Guardian website has posted graphic photos allegedly taken by Pakistani security forces inside Bin Laden's compound after the US raid and sold to Reuters. Click to see the images here.

5.44am The CIA is on the offensive over claims by Bin Laden daughter's claim that US forces killed her father after capturing him. It has put out this statement on Fox News:

"It is absolutely wrong to say Osama bin Laden was executed on the scene ... It is absolutely wrong to say Bin Laden was questioned at the scene."

5.00am Carney confirms that no other "visual evidence" of Bin Laden's death will be released.


Jay Carney
White House press secretary Jay Carney explains Presdient Barack Obama's decision not to release the death photos. Picture: AP
Source: AP

4.30am White House press secretary Jay Carney has revealed Obama's response to the questions over the Bin Laden photos in the CBS interview. According to Carney, Obama says:

"Given the graphic nature of these photos it would create a national security risk. We discussed this internally, keep in mind that we are absolutely certain that it is him ... it is important that very graphic photos of someone shot in the head are not floating around as a propaganda tool.... We don't trot out this stuff as trophies ... we don't need to spike the football."

Spiking the football is a reference to American football post-touchdown celebrations.

Obama adds:

"The fact of the matter is you will not see Bin Laden walking on this Earth again."

3.54am Obama made his decision not to release the Bin Laden photos in an interview with CBS. In this Sunday's 60 Minutes show, he will say he won't release post-mortem photos to prove Bin Laden's death.

3.35am Republican congressman Mike Rogers, chairman of the House of Representatives intelligence committee, makes a compelling argument as to why the president is right. Rogers, who has seen the photos, says:

I don't want to make the job of our troops serving in places like Iraq and Afghanistan any harder than it already is. The risks of release outweigh the benefits. Conspiracy theorists around the world will just claim the photos are doctored anyway, and there is a real risk that releasing the photos will only serve to inflame public opinion in the Middle East.

Imagine how the American people would react if al-Qaida killed one of our troops or military leaders, and put photos of the body on the internet.

3.24am Barack Obama has decided not to release the photos of Bin Laden's body. More to come.

2.20am More details about the operation that killed bin Laden and the possibility of a photograph being released now coming out. Sky News just reported a senior US official has given a briefing to journalists in the US about the graphic nature of the picture taken inside the compound in Abbattabad.

"A large open gunshot wound to the forehead can be seen, the skull is open and brain matter can be seen. One of the eyes can be seen and the other is completely gone."

There are also claims that bin Laden was found with a 500 Euro bill and two telephone numbers sown into his clothing. The report is now that bin Laden tried to reach for something believed to be a gun during the raid and was shot twice - once in the head and once in the chest - this account is different to what we have been told previously.

2.01am US Attorney General Eric Holder has said the killing of bin Laden was lawful, describing it as "an action of national defense," FOX News Channel reported. Mr Holder said that there was no indication he tried to surrender so therefore the killing was lawful and acceptable.

1.30am Australian man David Stewart, whose son Anthony died in the Bali bombings, has hit back at claims the killing of Osama bin Laden was ethically wrong.

"The only way to stop terrorists is to kill them. If you don't kill them they are just going to keep doing it." - David Stewart

"I wish I was there so I could beat the hell out of him first, make him suffer like we've been suffering, and then shoot him."

1.29am Sky News is reporting the US has said it will release some form of evidence to prove bin Laden is dead. There are no details as of yet as to what form this evidence will take. Officials yesterday ruled out the release of the "kill tape" taken during the mission.

8.43pm Arabic news network Al-Arabiya is quoting "senior Pakistani security officials" as saying Osama bin Laden's 12-year-old daughter is alleging her father was captured alive and then shot dead in front of his family by US special forces.

7.38pm Protesters in the Pakistani city of Multan have shouted slogans, burning a US flag, during demonstrations in the wake of OBL's killing. Pictures: AFP


pakistan protest osama bin laden
Demonstrators burn a US flag during a protest in Multan, Pakistan, against the killing of Osama bin Laden. Picture: AFP
Source: AFPpakistan protest osama bin laden
Pakistani demonstrators shout slogans during an anti-US protest in Multan, against the killing of Osama bin Laden. Picture: AFP
Source: AFP

7.22pm Pakistan alerted the US to its suspicions about a compound where bin Laden was found hiding as far back as 2009, Pakistani Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir has told the BBC.

This particular location was pointed out by our intelligence quite some time ago to the US intelligence. Of course they have a much more sophisticated equipment to evaluate and to assess. We had indicated this compound as far back as 2009 as a possible place.

He added, though, that it was not known at the time bin Laden was hiding there and there were "millions" of other suspect locations.

7.15pm Authorities in Indonesia have confirmed that the country's most wanted terrorist, Umar Patek, arrested earlier this year in the same city where bin Laden was killed, was there to meet the al-Qaeda chief.

Below is the Abbottabad home where Patek was arrested in January.


Umar Patek arrest Abbottabad
The home in Abbottabad, where Indonesian al-Qaeda-linked militant, Umar Patek, was arrested. Picture: AP
Source: AP

7.10pm The whole world shares the blame for Pakistan's failure to capture bin Laden, the country's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani says.

Certainly, we have intelligence failure of the rest of the world including the United States. There is intelligence failure of the whole world, not Pakistan alone.

Prime Minister Gilani (below) was speaking at a press conference in Paris. Picture: AFP


Yousuf Raza Gilani Osama bin Laden
Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani addresses a press conference, saying spy agencies around the world share the blame for his country's failure to capture Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Picture: AFP
Source: AFP

6.18pm A French cardinal has urged Christians to pray for Osama bin Laden's soul even though he was their enemy, as forgiveness is a key teaching in the Bible.

I have prayed for the soul of Osama Bin Laden. We have to pray for him just like we pray for the victims of September 11. It's what Jesus teaches Christians. Jesus obliges us to forgive our enemies. The 'Our Father' that we recite every day says that. Does it not say 'Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us'? It's not possible to accept this prayer while holding on to rancour and cultivating hatred against our enemies.

5.25pm France fears it will be the target of reprisals for OBL's killing. French Interior Minister Claude Gueant said:

Threats are everywhere and we can indeed fear that France will, like the United States and other friendly countries, be the target of reprisals and desire for vengeance. Yesterday I gave instructions for patrols and precautions to be strengthened.

4.28pm Not everyone agrees with CIA Director Leon Panetta's call that a photograph should be presented to the public.

There's no question that there were concerns and there were questions that had to be debated. But the bottom line is that, you know, we got bin Laden and I think we have to reveal to the rest of the world the fact that we were able to get him and kill him.

White House spokesman Jay Carney says the photo is "gruesome".

John Ullyot, a former Republican Senate Armed Services Committee aide and Marine intelligence officer says:

A graphic image such as that has the potential to inflame a community just out of its sheer shock value. Even the release of a graphic photo might not close the book in some people's minds. It's a delicate balance, and the president has real downside either way he decides on this.

US politician Peter King of New York, among those who had the images described to them, played down that concern.

They're not going to scare people off. Nothing more than you'd expect with a person with a bullet in his head.

Have your say in our poll: Should a photo of Osama bin Laden's corpse be released?

3.46pm A senior Pakistani intelligence officer insists the country's Inter-Services Intelligence agency would have captured bin Laden if it had known he was there, pushing back at international criticism.

Look at our track record given the issues we have faced, the lack of funds. We have killed or captured hundreds (of extremists). All of a sudden one failure makes us incompetent and 10 years of effort is overlooked.

3.42pm Pakistan has stepped up security in the neighbourhood where Osama bin Laden was killed, sealing off the suburb after crowds of media and curious onlookers flocked to the area. Local residents were being body-searched and having their ID cards checked as they returned to their homes, with some labourers prevented from going to work in the area, AFP reports.

A local police official said:

More than 300 armed policemen have been deployed at the entry points, as well as in the town and close to the house, for security reasons.


osama bin laden road blocks
Pakistani police officers stand guard at the main gate of a house where Osama bin Laden was killed. Picture: AP
Source: APAbove, livestock passes as police officers stand guard outside the home where OBL was killed, and below, a journalist is stopped at a roadblock.


osama bin laden road blocks
Pakistani police officers stop a journalist on a road leading to a house where Osama bin Laden was killed. Picture: AP
Source: AP

2.25pm An account of neighbours' impressions of Osama bin Laden's compound raises questions over how much authorities knew.

Local farmer Mashood Khan, 45, says:

People were skeptical in this neighborhood about this place and these guys. They used to gossip, say they were smugglers or drug dealers. People would complain that even with such a big house they didn't invite the poor or distribute charity.

Khurshid Bibi, in her 70s, says one man living in the compound had given her a lift to the market in the rain. She says her grandchildren played with the kids in the house and that the adults there gave them rabbits as a gift.

1.45pm ABC News says American bin Laden hunter Gary Faulkner wants a piece of the $25 million reward.

He says:

I had a major hand and play in this wonderful thing, getting him out of the mountains and down to the valleys... Someone had to get him out of there. That's where I came in. I scared the squirrel out of his hole, he popped his head up and he got capped.

1.15pm US Vice President Joe Biden is hailing the lack of leaks in the lead-up to the commando raid that killed bin Laden, revealing several politicians had been in the loop for months.



There were as many as 16 members of the Congress who were briefed on it; not a single, solitary leak. There was such of an overwhelming desire to accomplish this mission. The world is a safer place today not only for the American people but for all people.

12.50pm Prime Minister Julia Gillard has defended the celebrations across the West following the killing of Osama bin Laden, saying the al-Qaeda leader dedicated his life to violence.

I think for us to welcome news that in a firefight he has been killed ... is the appropriate thing to do

Ms Gillard's comments come after high profile Queen's Counsel Geoffrey Robertson said bin Laden should have been put on trial rather than killed.

Meanwhile, the government says bin Laden's death will not impact on next week's federal budget.

12.40pm The US military has come under fire for using an "inappropriate" code name of "Geronimo" to describe the killing of bin Laden.

Geronimo was an Apache leader in the 19th century who spent many years fighting the Mexican and US armies until his surrender in 1886.

After bin Laden was killed, the military told the White House: "Geronimo EKIA" (enemy killed in action).

Loretta Tuell, from the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, said the use of the term was shocking when comparing a national hero to the world's most hated man.

These inappropriate uses of Native American icons and cultures are prevalent throughout our society, and the impacts to native and non-native children are devastating

And columnist for the weekly newspaper Indian Country Today Steven Newcomb, said:

Apparently, having an African-American president in the White House is not enough to overturn the more than 200-year American tradition of treating and thinking of Indians as enemies of the United States

12.25pm An American footballer has spoken out against mass celebrations celebrating the death of bin Laden, questioning what is to gain from celebrating killing the bad guy.

Pittsburgh Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall was quoted in the The Huffington Post as saying:

What kind of person celebrates death? It's amazing how people can HATE a man they have never even heard speak. We've only heard one side...

12.15pm This raw vision from Reuters shows what's going on outside the compound in Pakistan where US Navy Seals killed Osama bin Laden.

11.49am Sarah Palin credits George W Bush for Bin Laden's death - doesn't mention President Obama http://lat.ms/jWBFYo


11.40am The FBI is warning computer users against clicking on unsolicited emails purporting to show photos or videos of the killing of Osama bin Laden.

The bureau is saying emails could contain a virus that can steal personal identification information or infect a computer and that such malicious software can even be passed along unknowingly by a friend or family member.

It is also urging the public to adjust privacy settings on social networking sites to make it more difficult for people to post material.



11.36am FOX News Radio says, according to George W Bush's spokesman, Mr Bush appreciated the offer to attend the World Trade Centre gathering but he prefers to stay out of the spotlight post-Presidency.

11.25am After Osama bin Laden's death, the US Congress rethinks aid to Pakistan: http://bit.ly/lYmHS0

11.05am US forces were stationed just a few hundred metres away from Osama Bin Laden's Abbottabad compound in October 2008, according to leaked WikiLeaks embassy cables.

The Guardian reports that soldiers were due to perform a training exercise of Pakistan's military unit and may have even visited the town some months later.

Meanwhile, the paper has published a list of the top ten myths about the terror leader. The myths include:

1. Osama bin Laden was 'created' by the CIA
2. He had a huge personal fortune
3. He was responsible for 1993 bombing of World Trade Centre

10.50am Former US President George W Bush has reportedly turned down Obama's invite to visit Ground Zero in New York on Thursday, politico.com reported.

It comes as more than 56 million people in the US tuned in to watch President Barack Obama's announcement of bin Laden's death, Nielsen figures show.

The President's nine-minute televised address of the al Qaeda terror chief's demise came at 11:35pm but still rated higher than any other he has given as president.

10.45am The young daughter of Osama bin Laden has told Pakistani officials that she saw her father shot and killed by armed Americans.

An official with Pakistan's spy agency says the girl, who is about 12 or 13-years-old, was one of eight or nine children in the house when a team of US Navy SEALs stormed the complex by helicopter.

The official says based on interviews with the daughter and others in the house, Pakistani authorities now believe that bin Laden had been living in the Abbottabad compound for "some months".

We have no independent confirmation of Osama bin Laden being there or dying there except what we got from the daughter

10.20am The Gillard Government is being urged to withdraw support for Pakistan's military, which has been accused of harbouring Osama bin Laden.

Security analyst Rory Medcalf from the Lowy Institute told the ABC Pakistan's security establishment were either aware of his location or were harbouring him.

Mr Medcalf says the international community risked the same treatment in supporting Pakistan's military and that Australia should now focus on helping build up the country's police forceand civil society institutions instead.

10.05am US TV personality Jon Stewart says he isn't conflicted over the death of bin Laden and only wanted details.

In his blog, the popular New Yorker says he's too close to this whole episode to be "rational about this in any way shape or form."

And he also played down terror threat, making a joke referring to ocean-dwelling cartoon character Sponge Bob Square Pants.

Even when they do [attack], you know who won’t see it? Bin Laden. Because we shot out his eyes, and now he lives in a pineapple under the sea

9.20am Debate is raging on social networking site Facebook about whether the US should publish a picture of Osama bin Laden's corpse to prove he is actually dead with opinion divided on the issue.

What do you think? Join the debate on Facebook here


9.00am News of bin Laden's death has not sparked unrest at Guantanamo Bay, the Pentagon says.

Detainees learned about the death of Osama bin Laden just like "the rest of the world", and the news did not spark any disturbance at the prison, according to White House spokeswoman Tanya Bradsher.

Camp operations continue as normal and nothing out of the ordinary has been observed as a result of recent media coverage

Among the Guantanamo detainees are September 11, 2001, mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other men accused of planning the attacks that killed close to 3000 people, mostly in New York.

Also held at Guantanamo is Al Qaeda's third-ranking member, Abu Faraj al-Libi, who was arrested in 2005, and Ali Hamza Ahmad al-Bahlu, who is accused of being the terrorist group's chief propagandist.

8.34am CIA director Leon Panetta has hinted in a TV interview with host of NBC's Nightly News Brian Williams that a photograph of dead terror chief Osama bin Laden will eventually be revealed to the public.

The government obviously has been talking about how best to do this, but I don't think there was any question that ultimately a photograph would be presented to the public

8.35am Osama bin Laden went to great lengths to shield his compound with high walls topped with barbed wire it has emerged while new pictures reveal a burnt-out and rundown home following Sunday's deadly raid.


Meanwhile further photos revealed in the The Wall Street Journal show the top two floors of the three-story house visible above the high perimeter walls.

The house appears run down and not the high-tech complex described in some reports, with no air conditioning units, internet or television.

See pictures of inside the compound here.

8.20am The US has denied the intelligence that led special ops forces to bin Laden's secret compound in Pakistan was obtained using harsh interrogation methods.

Senator Dianne Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, emphasised that the information was neither obtained by torture nor corroborated by suspected combatants at the controversial US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

"At the present time, I think it was good intelligence - a piece here and a piece there put together," she said.

8.15am A group of university students predicted that bin Laden was likely hiding in a region that included Abbottabad, Pakistan, where he was killed, Science magazine reported.

Geographer Thomas Gillespie, colleague John Agnew and a class of 2009 undergraduates from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) used the geographical theory known as island biogeography, which posits that a species on a large island is less likely to go extinct than a species on a small island after a catastrophic event.

"The theory was basically that if you're going to try and survive, you're going to a region with a low extinction rate: a large town," Mr Gillespie said. "We hypothesised he wouldn't be in a small town where people could report on him."

8.00am The death of bin Laden was done in such a gung ho, stereotypically American waythat it could do great damage to the already fatally dysfunctional relationship between the West and the Middle East, The Punch's Tory Shepherd reveals.

And Paul Toohey reveals most Americans realise they are hated across most of the Muslim world and that they are waiting for al-Qaeda to strike again.

7.55am India is calling for the US to attach tougher conditions on the aid it provides Pakistan and said the location of bin Laden's compound backs up its case it is harbouring terrorists.

An Indian official told The Wall Street Journal it is "extremely implausible" that Pakistan was unaware of bin Laden's location and said links between Pakistan's government and terrorist outfits are now "too strong to ignore."

7.50am Osama bin Laden's death has opened up divisions with the Obama administration over whether to proceed with the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan.

The withdrawal, originally to begin in the the northern hemisphere summer has sparked debate as to whether bin Laden's killing will shorten the war or open the way for reconciliation with the Taliban, the UK's Guardian reported.

The Pentagon had wanted a cut of about 2000 of 100,000 US troops in Afghanistan, but Congress is pushing for further significant cuts given that Bin Laden had been the reason for going into Afghanistan in the first place, the paper reveals.

7.30am US President Barack Obama kept military commanders hanging by declaring he would 'sleep on it' before taking 16 hours to give the go-ahead to raid Bin Laden's compound, according to British newspaper the Daily Mail.

And it has also emerged that his specialist Navy Seals were not even told who they were preparing to capture having practised the mission at two reconstructions of the terror chiefs sprawling compound.

CIA and other intelligence officers who were keen to proceed only went ahead when Obama summoned four top aides to the White House Diplomatic Room, put his fist on the table and declared "It's a go".

7.10am The CIA has revealed what would have happened if Osama bin Laden had been taken alive, but admitted they expected him to die.

In an interview with CBS newsreader Katie Couric, CIA Director Leon Panetta said: "We always assume from the beginning that the likelihood was that he was gonna be killed."

But if perchance he were to be captured, I think the approach was to take him quickly to Bagram [Airfield, in Afghanistan], transfer him to a ship offshore, and then have the principals at the White House decide what next steps would be taken.

7.00am These pictures reveal the outpouring of grief among supporters of Pakistan's religious party Jamatut Dawa.

The group offered funeral prayers for Osama bin Laden during a gathering in Karachi as the US is still celebrating his death.


6.50am The killing of Osama bin Laden has unleashed a swirl of conspiracy theories, with many Pakistanis, Afghans and Arabs refusing to believe US assurances that al Qaeda's founder is actually dead, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Afghanistan's Taliban movement, which hosted bin Laden and al Qaeda until the US invasion of 2001, has challenged President Barack Obama's account of the killing with many skeptical he is even dead.

6.45am President Barack Obama's approval rating on his handling of terrorism and the war in Afghanistan has jumped following the death of Osama bin Laden, according to new polls.

A Washington Post and Pew Research Center poll saw large increases in the percentage of Americans approving of the president's leadership.

More than three-quarters of Americans, or 76 percent, in that poll believed the president deserved either a great deal or some credit for the death of bin Laden.

6.35am Pakistan's main intelligence agency, the ISI, claims it is extremely embarrassed by its intelligence failures, the ABC reported.

An ISI official said that the compound had been raided when the house was under construction in 2003, but had not come to their attention since.

But Pakistan's former high commissioner to Britain defended his country's intelligence servicee and said it was highly likely the government knew Osama Bin Laden's location.

It comes as the Pakistani government admitted that family members of Osama bin Laden were being looked after and undergoing medical treatment at top facilities.

"Questions have been asked about the whereabouts of the family members of Osama bin Laden," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

"They are all in safe hands and being looked after in accordance with law. Some of them needing medical care are under treatment in the best possible facilities."

The government said that "as per policy" the relatives would be handed over to their countries of origin.

A security official told AFP that there were 16 family members, all women and children, in Pakistan's hands.

6.30am Bin Laden has been hailed as a matyr at a rally in Sudan, which was attended by around 1000 people overnight.

Sudanese Muslims gathered at a square in Khartoum, where Osama Bin Laden lived in the 1990s, hailing al-Qaeda's slain leader as a "martyr" and shouting anti-US slogans.

At the two-hour rally, which was attended by prominent Islamist figures in Sudan, prayers were held and speeches made in honour of al-Qaeda's mastermind.

"We hope that the leaders of Islamic countries become like bin Laden, unlike now, when they store away their rebels and fighters, without using them to liberate Jerusalem," said Abu Zaid Mohammed Hamza, who heads the local Islamist group Ansar al-Sunna.

6.20am These photos reveal the reaction so far of some Pakistanis following bin Laden's death where locals, including media and police gather outside the remains of his compound, while below a young boy collects trophy pieces of the former home.


6.15am The White House warned that a photograph of Osama Bin Laden's corpse was "gruesome" and said it was concerned it could be inflammatory if it was publicly released.

"It is fair to say it is a gruesome photograph ... it could be inflammatory," White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

"We are reviewing the situation. We are going about this in a methodical way and trying to make the best call."

6.00am Osama bin Laden was unarmed when he was shot dead by US special forces, but he tried to resist and there was a "volatile firefight", the White House has confirmed.

The revelation, likely to stoke anger in parts of the Muslim world, came from President Barack Obama's spokesman Jay Carney as he provided the most detailed account yet of the Sunday night raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

"In the room with bin Laden, a women - bin Laden's wife - rushed the US assaulter and was shot in the leg but not killed. Bin Laden was then shot and killed. He was not armed," Mr Carney said.

"The team methodically cleared the compound moving from room to room in an operation lasting nearly 40 minutes."

After media reports quoting officials describing it as a "kill operation", the White House spokesman was pressed hard to explain the apparent contradiction that bin Laden was unarmed but also resisted.

3.38am Sky News is reporting a senior US official has said while there is video of the attack on bin Laden's compound it will not be released, the official also said there was video of Osama's burial at sea.


The official also stated there were no guards at the compound where bin Laden was living.


3.24am Pakistan's president has slammed accusations that his nation extends safe haven to extremists as being "baseless" and insisted the country's long-term help was crucial to the US triumph in gunning down Osama bin Laden.

Earlier a statement from the Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs demanded that the US acknowledge that it had assisted the US and expressed:

"Deep concerns and reservations on the manner in which the Government of the United States carried out this operation without prior information or authorisation from the Government of Pakistan”.

2.46am As the media call for the release of the "kill tape" and pictures of bin Laden's corpse this video offers a different perspective, it has an interview with a 12-year-old-boy who met the bin Laden family and was inside the house several times.

Boy recalls bin Laden family


2.38am British PM David Cameron has also questioned Pakistan's involvement, saying bin Laden must have had an "extensive" support network in Pakistan in the years before his death. Cameron said Britain would ask "searching questions" about the extent of the network but would continue aid programs to Pakistan and maintain intelligence cooperation against terrorism.

"It is in Britain's national interest to recognise that with Pakistan we share the same struggle against terrorism".

1.58am CIA Director Leon Panetta has said in an interview that the US did not tip off Pakistani officials about the raid on bin Laden's compound because of fears they might have alerted the targets. This appears to contradict earlier claims that Pakistan intelligence was integral to the raid.

"It was decided that any effort to work with the Pakistanis could jeopardize the mission: They might alert the targets." - Leon Panetta

1.38am A Washington teacher who went on a shaving strike in response to the 9/11 terror attacks is once again clean-shaven after bin Laden's death. Gary Weddle, 50, said he cried when he heard the al Qa'ida figurehead had been killed in Pakistan and then "couldn't get it (the beard) off fast enough."

Gary Weddle shaved off his beard after almost ten years. Picture: AP

1.14am Defence Minister Defence Minister Stephen Smith has warned Australians a revenge attack for the death of bin Laden could happen anywhere, anytime.

"(Retaliation) can as easily occur in a capital city in the United States or Europe as it can occur in Afghanistan." - Stephen Smith

His warning comes as DFAT urged Australians living abroad to take extra precautions.

"There is a very high threat of terrorist attack against places in Pakistan that are frequented by Australians and other Westerners," the Department stated.

"These attacks could include Western or Australian interests and occur at anytime, anywhere in Pakistan."

11.25pm Pakistani soldiers have arrested a peasant in Abbottabad who lived near the compound where bin Laden was killed, the man's relatives and police said. He was arrested by Pakistani security officials a few hours after the US-led operation yesterday. A local police officer said he was picked up by the military and not police.

11.23pm The bullet-riddled villa that hid bin Laden from the world has been passed to police control, as media organisations continue to fight for a glimpse inside.


Bin Laden's hideout had been kept under tight army control after the dramatic raid by US special forces on Monday in the affluent suburbs of Abbottabad, a garrison city 50 kilometres north of Islamabad.

Local people and media gather outside the compound where Osama bin Laden was killed. Picture: AP


8.22pm Prime Minister Julia Gillard says her office wasn't directly contacted by American security agencies with news of OBL's death. She says the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation was told before the prime minister's office.

American security agencies contacted their counterparts here in Australia. My office was informed and I was asked to come out of a cabinet committee meeting which was then in-train to hear the news.

7.42pm JFK Airport security reportedly waited 40 minutes on Friday before calling police after a man told a ticket agent that he was Osama bin Laden and was carrying a bomb. Christian Boncorps, 61, told an Air France ticket agent, "My name is bin Laden, and I have a bomb in my bag."

5.51pm Television networks say there is little chance anyone will see the 'kill tape' of Osama bin Laden.

"Every news organisation in the world is asking for it right now and not one of them thinks it will ever see the light of day," one disappointed network news veteran told the New York Post.

"Everyone is asking that question, and we haven't gotten a response," said another network source.

So far, the only TV images that exist come from a grainy, amateur video shot inside the bin Laden death compound several hours after the operation ended and obtained by ABC News.

4.48pm The death of Bin Laden has brought an end to a daily scoreboard that has been going since September 11, 2001.

New York resident Cheryl Stewart has been keeping a tally outside her home tracking to days Bin Laden has been on the run since the attacks on the World Trade Center.

"Nine years and 232 days since 9-11-01. Where is Osama Bin Laden?" read the sign before it was taken down on Monday morning.

"I was angry that my tax money was going to be spent attacking a country that never attacked us and the people that did this were laughing at us," she said.

"I put up the sign and I changed the number every day, to remember, every day."

4.41pm South-East Asian terror networks appear to believe the killing of Osama bin Laden by US special forces in Pakistan is the equivalent of a bloody nose, rather than a body blow, to their jihadist cause.

"If the news is true, we should all be happy," read the reaction to the news on an Indonesian website run by a convicted terrorist accomplice known as the "Prince of Jihad".

"It was his dream to die as a martyr in the way of Allah," it continued.

"Muslims need not worry. With or without Sheikh Osama, jihad will continue and God-willing, other Sheikh Osamas will emerge to replace him."

3.48pm A Balinese woman prays at the Ground Zero Monument in Denpasar, Bali. The memorial pays tribute to the victims of the 2002 Bali bombings. Picture: AP


3.24pm If you are wondering how officials used DNA to confirm the identity of Osama Bin Laden, Time explains the process and specific details about this case.

The US matched DNA samples from the body of bin Laden to samples taken from members of his family in the years since the September 11 attacks.

2.44pm Greens leader Bob Brown says it's time for the government to withdraw Australian troops from Afghanistan, saying he was concerned a new contingent was about to be sent from Townsville to Afghanistan.

The view of the Australian Greens has been that our troops should be brought home from Afghanistan and this (killing) endorses or strengthens that view.

2.30pm ABC reports online scammers are already hooking people with baited links about Osama bin Laden, tricking them into downloading malicious software, according to David Marcus of US computer security firm McAfee.

2.14pm Over at The Punch, Anthony Sharwood rounds up some of the jokes on the circuit since news broke yesterday, including the one below.


"When an enemy has been hidden for the best part of 10 years, people need a form of release when he is finally been despatched," Sharwood writes.

"Gloating is one form of release. It may not be pretty, but it’s understandable. Humour is of course an even better option, and feel free to share any jokes you’ve heard."

2.08pm The US embassy in Pakistan's capital and consulates in three other cities are closed to the public until further notice.

1.57pm The possibility that information which led to the location of bin Laden came from detainees subjected to "enhanced interrogation" techniques - which may say is torture - is certain to reopen debate over the practices.

Reuters reports one of the key sources of information was the al-Qaeda operative believed to have masterminded the September 11 attacks.

The US government has acknowledged Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, held in Guantanamo Bay prison was subjected to waterboarding 183 times.

1.14pm It seems bin Laden may have been given away by his wife calling out his name as the US SEALs raided the compound.

Time reports senior US officials saying this was one of several ways the US government confirmed the man killed was indeed bin Laden.

12.52pm In the New York Times, Mark Mazzetti, Helene Cooper and Peter Baker describe the agonising search for Bin Laden and how clues gradually led the location of the terrorist chief.

Pakistanis working for the CIA found and followed a trusted courier of Bin Laden and tracked him over several months until he led them to bin Laden's compound.

On a moonless night eight months later, 79 American commandos in four helicopters descended on the compound, the officials said. Shots rang out. A helicopter stalled and would not take off. Pakistani authorities, kept in the dark by their allies in Washington, scrambled jets as the American commandos rushed to finish their mission and leave before a confrontation.

Of the five dead, one was a tall, bearded man with a bloodied face and a bullet in his head. A member of the Navy Seals snapped his picture with a camera and uploaded it to analysts who fed it into a facial recognition program.

And just like that, history’s most expansive, expensive and exasperating manhunt was over.

12.29pm Over at the Naughty Corner, news.com.au blogger Alison Godfrey tackles the question ' how do you tell your kids about the death of bin Laden?'

A friend came into work today with a particular dilemma. He was watching the news of Osama bin Laden’s death with his children last night. When one asked what had happened he explained that someone had died.

“But why are people happy?”, his son asked.

My friend was stumped. How do you explain people celebrating a death? Death is sad. Death is not normally something we all cheer about. And yet here are crowds of people singing, yelling and smiling because someone is dead.

Read more.

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