Osama bin Laden's death: aftermath and reaction
Al-Qaida concedes that Osama bin Laden is dead
Barack Obama meets members of Seal Team 6
Al-Qaida has released a statement conceding that Osama bin Laden is dead. Photograph: AFP
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1.45pm: Hello and welcome to our continuing coverage of the aftermath of the US raid to kill
Osama bin Laden. We begin our coverage today with the breaking news that
al-Qaida has released a statement conceding that the terrorist organisation's leader is indeed dead.
1.48pm: The news comes from Reuters, which quotes the Site monitoring service as saying: "Al-Qaida released a statement on jihadist forums on May 6, 2011, confirming the death of its leader, Osama bin Laden."
1.52pm: The Associated Press has more, saying the al-Qaida statement warns of retaliation, saying that US "happiness will turn to sadness". It said the statement could not be independently verified but was posted on websites that had previously carried messages from the group.
The message says:
We stress that the blood of the holy warrior sheik, Osama bin Laden, God bless him, is precious to us and to all Muslims and will no go in vain. We will remain, God willing, a curse chasing the Americans and their agents, following them outside and inside their countries.
Soon, God willing, their happiness will turn to sadness. their blood will be mingled with their tears.
In the statement, al-Qaida also called on the people of
Pakistan "where Sheik Osama was killed" to rise up in revolt against its leaders. It also said that an audio message bin Laden recorded a week before his death would be issued soon.
2.29pm: Confirmation of Bin Laden's death by al-Qaida came as President Obama is scheduled to thank those who carried out the successful attack.
White House officials say that at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, Obama will express his gratitude privately. But the president, joined by vice president Joe Biden, also will address soldiers who have returned recently from
Afghanistan, so it will be interesting to see what tone he adopts. So far the president has avoided taking a triumphalist attitude.
Obama yesterday laid a wreath at the site of the World Trade Centre, where as the Guardian's
Ed Pilkington reported, the president spoke no words. "But then he didn't need to: the location and the identity of the individuals gathered round him spoke for him."
2.48pm: US intelligence analysts say Bin Laden played a direct role for years in plotting attacks from his hide-out in Abbottabad,
the New York Times reports.
The documents taken at the Abbottabad compound, according to American officials, show that Bin Laden was in touch regularly with the terror network he created. With his whereabouts and activities a mystery in recent years, many intelligence analysts and terrorism experts had concluded that he had been relegated to an inspirational figure with little role in current and future al-Qaida operations.
A rushed examination of the trove of materials from the compound in Pakistan prompted Obama administration officials on Thursday to issue a warning that Al Qaeda last year had considered attacks on American railroads.
The documents include a handwritten notebook from February 2010 that discusses tampering with tracks to derail a train on a bridge, possibly on Christmas, New Year's Day, the day of the State of the Union address or the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, officials said. But they said there was no evidence of a specific plot.
2.58pm: The US operation in Abbottabad may have been successful militarily, but questions surrounding the raid's legality are surfacing. The Guardian's Peter Walker writes
about UN interest in the case.
Two United Nations human rights watchdogs have asked the US to provide details about the operation that killed Osama bin Laden, in particular whether it ever included the possibility that he could be captured alive.
A series of questions have arisen about the potential legality of the mission after it emerged that four of the five people killed when US Navy Seals raided the house in Abbottabad, Pakistan, were unarmed, Bin Laden among them.
Pentagon officials initially talked of "a great deal of resistance" from inside the compound, but it was revealed that American forces only came under fire in the first few minutes of the operation.
3.10pm: One of three wives living with Bin Laden never left the upper floors of the house for the whole six years that she was there. Yemeni-born Amal Ahmed al-Sadah and the other two wives are being questioned by Pakistani intelligence, says AP and their testimony could shed more light on Bin Laden's operations.
3.26pm: Before al-Qaida confirmed Bin Laden's death, most Pakistanis did not think he had been killed by US special forces. This comes through in a
YouGov-Cambridge university poll conducted after the raid. According to the poll, 66% say the man killed was not Bin Laden. What was striking was that the sample focused on more educated people among the three big cities, Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore. Opinions about Bin Laden, however, were divided.
- 48% of Pakistanis say he was not a true Muslim leader.
- 35% believe he was a mass murderer of Muslims, compared with 42% who disagree.
- 35% think he actually declared war on Pakistan, with 45% who disagree.
- Roughly half of all respondents feel negative about the idea of an association between Pakistan's national intelligence agency (the ISI) and al-Qaida.
- 75% disapprove of US actions in hunting Bin Laden on Pakistani soil.
- Less than a quarter think he authorised the 9/11 attacks.
And despite Obama's efforts to
reach out to Muslims in his Cairo speech two years ago...
- 74% believe the US government does not respect Islam and considers itself at war with the Muslim world.
- 70% object to the Pakistani government's policy of accepting economic aid from the US.
- 86% oppose the government's allowing, or having allowed, US drone attacks on militant groups.
3.41pm: With US-Pakistan relations under greater strain than ever, Congress is not about to make matters any easier amid moves to cut aid to Islamabad. The White House may head off such moves but noisy debates about Pakistan's "perfidy" can be sure to rankle Pakistan.
Josh Rogin writes on the Foreign Policy website:
Most of the sticks being contemplated on Capitol Hill involve the cutting of foreign aid. And while there likely will not be one overarching bill to cut off all aid to Pakistan, lawmakers and staffs are finalizing plans to reduce or restrict assistance. And unfortunately for Pakistan, this debate will take place within the larger context of a budget debate that includes an emphasis on cutting foreign aid.
The issue of how to deal with Pakistan divides both parties and both chambers. Traditional conservative/liberal distinctions do not apply, and lawmakers are bringing their long-held scepticism of Pakistani aid into the debate. In each party, there are roughly two camps -- those who want to withhold or at least reduce aid now, and those who want to wait to see if information is forthcoming that Pakistani officials were actually involved in supporting bin Laden's efforts to evade capture.
4.42pm: New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman says the protesters in the Arab world have rejected what he calls Binladenism - the use of violence for political ends - in favour of peaceful protests. The question is whether this inchoate movement come together in the form of political parties that can drive political change.
5.27pm: White House spokesman Jay Carney was asked whether Obama would go into triumphalist mode when he addresses American troops in Kentucky (as if Obama would do that. Bush, probably, but not this president). Anyway here's Carney's answer.
Well, I don't expect you'll hear the president spiking the ball or gloating when he speaks to troops returning from Afghanistan today. The point he will make is that while the successful mission against Osama Bin Laden was an historic and singular event, it does not by any means mean that we are finished with the war against al-Qaida. The fight goes on...
He's going to speak to these troops to thank them for their service. They have fought valiantly and incurred significant casualties in that effort. So there's nothing -- there's no intent to gloat at all in that regard.
5.58pm: My colleague, Ben Quinn, will shortly take over. Meanwhile here is a summary.
The US government remains "highly vigilant" of any attempt by al-Qaida to avenge the killing of Osama bin Laden by US special forces in Pakistan, said the White House spokesman.
President Obama will personally thank the special forces team that carried out the operation in Abbottabad, before addressing returning troops from Afghanistan.
Two United Nations human rights watchdogs have asked the US to provide details about the raid that killed Laden, in particular whether it ever included the possibility that he could be captured alive.
US intelligence analysts say Bin Laden played a direct role for years in plotting attacks from his hide-out in Abbottabad. The New York Times says documents taken at the compound showed
plans to derail a train on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
6.16pm: Pakistani forces have arrested at least 13 people in an operation that's on-going around the bin Laden compound.
Our correspondent on the ground, Saeed Shah, says that more arrests are expected.
Rather than acting on the basis of intelligence, he adds that the security forces seem to be taking in "suspicious" people, such as those without paperwork or some kind of link to the house.
The arrests are being done by the Intelligence Bureau, a civilian intellgence agency, rather than police.
Yesterday they arrested a number foreigners in the same area - two Egyptians and a Sudanese.
This is Ben Quinn taking over the blog for this evening.
6.45pm: Those arrests in the area around Bin Laden's compound are on a larger scale than first thought.
Our correspondent, Saeed Shah, writes:
Over 30 people were rounded up by Pakistani authorities in Abbottabad late on Friday for suspected links to the house where Osama bin Laden had lived.
It is believed that the suspects were not taken in on the basis of firm intelligence but for any associations with the house or having incomplete documentation for living in the town.
An operation for detaining the suspects was ongoing last night and more arrests were expected.
Since the news of bin Laden's presence in the town emerged on Monday, Pakistani intelligence agents have arrested dozens of people, including the next-door neighbor who planted vegetables at the bin Laden compound and the building contractor who made the house.
6.49pm: Reaction to the death of Bin Laden from French muslims at a mosque in Paris has been gauged by Reuters correspondents in the city:
Ahead of Friday prayers at a mosque in northern Paris, many worshippers greeted questions about his death with raised eyebrows, describing it as a vast public relations operation to ensure the re-election of U.S. President Barack Obama.
"This whole story is a myth," one middle-aged Muslim man who declined to be named said, pausing as he walked into the al-Fath mosque.
"They invented it to distract Americans from real problems over there, like the economy and gas prices."
A man who gave his name as Mohammed demanded to see photographic evidence. Asked how he might react to graphic photos of a dead bin Laden, shot in the head in the 40-minute raid, he said: "Well, I'll know when I see them."
As worshippers laid out prayer mats and shared banter, another man, in his twenties, described accounts of the raid by U.S. forces that killed bin Laden last Sunday as "a classic Western film - call it 'Revenge for September 11'".
"Americans are creating problems all over the world," he added. "Why can't they just leave Muslims alone?"
Few had praise for the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, which killed more than 3,000 people. But many disapproved of how his remains were handled. U.S. officials said they performed religious rites before burying his body at sea.
"It's true that he killed hundreds of people, that he was behind massacres...but the way they got rid of the body, throwing it into the sea, I didn't like that one bit," said Abdellah, 30, a consultant at BNP Paribas bank in Paris.
Moussa Niambele, imam of the al Fath mosque, avoided the question, saying: "It is not our position to comment on this."
8.27pm: The Afghan Taliban say the death of Osama bin Laden will only serve to boost morale in insurgent ranks and encourage them in their war.
The Associated Press news agency reports:
In statement sent by email to news organizations, the Taliban said the death of the terror leader "will give a new impetus to the current jihad against the invaders," meaning the U.S. and its international partners.
The Taliban praised bin Laden for his sacrifice in the war against the Soviets in the 1980s and said anyone who believes his death will undermine the current conflict is displaying a "lack of insight."
8.36pm:Jason Burke, south Asia correspondent for the Guardian and al-Qaida expert,
has been analysing the al-Qaida statement.
His view is that it should kill off Bin Laden conspiracy theories, but other factors are in play:
Another effect is to reinforce the conclusion that even without its leader, al-Qaida is still capable of some kind of coherent action.
Propaganda by deed has always been the favoured strategy of al-Qaida's leadership. Here then, is the propaganda.
The attention focused on this new statement takes us back to the days when al-Qaida under the leadership of Bin Laden had the ability to dominate the news agenda almost at will.
Every video would receive front page treatment, every tape would have analysts scrambling into chairs in TV studios.
Bin Laden even managed to steal the headlines in the days before the 2004 American presidential election with a judiciously timed statement.
President Obama has been meeting members of the US special forces who stormed Osama bin Laden's compound.
After arriving in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, he has been meeting with some of the Navy SEALS who carried out the operation in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and the elite helicopter crews who flew them in.
The Associated Press sets the scene:
Hundreds of soldiers clad in fatigues milled about in front of an enormous American flag as they waited in a hangar for Obama to arrive.
The mood looked celebratory as troops wearing combat boots broke out occasional dance moves.
But Obama has said there's no need to revel in bin Laden's death, and presidential spokesman Jay Carney said his comments would reflect that attitude.
"I don't expect you'll hear the president spiking the ball and gloating when he speaks to troops returning from Afghanistan," Carney told reporters traveling with the president Friday on Air Force One.
"The point he will make is that while the successful mission against Osama bin Laden was an historic and singular event, it doesn't by any means mean that we are finished with the war against al-Qaida. The fight goes on."
9.03pm: Mark Mardell, the BBC's North America editor,
has been considering what Bin Laden's death may mean for the so-called 'War on terror':
He writes in
his blog:
Those who know more than me say Bin Laden's death is a second blow, after AQ's impotence in the Arab Spring.
I suspect Jihadism, the reaction against the West's dominance, a most postmodern revulsion at modernism, will not go away.
It may fade for a while and resurface in another guise, with another name, or under new leaders under a old banner.
This could take a couple of months. It could take a couple of generations.
Obama's war against al-Qaeda is not won. There could be terrible reverses: a handful of people can do awful damage. But Bin Laden's death probably marks a pause.
9.32pm: President Obama is now publicly addressing troops in Fort Campbell from a podium.
"I came here for a simple reason, to say thank you on behalf of America. This has been an historic week in the life of our nation," he said, to cheers from US troops, many of whom have recently completed tours in Afghanistan.
"Thanks to the incredible skill and courage of countless individuals, from intelligence to military over many years, the terrorist leader on who struck our nation on 9/11 will never threaten America again."
He added that he had just had the privilege of meeting the "extraordinary special ops folks" who carried out the mission in Pakistan at Bin Laden's hideout.
"It was a chance for me to say on, on behalf of all Americans and on behalf of people around the world - 'job well done'."
Obama went on to describe the operation on Sunday as one of the greatest intelligence and military operations "in the history of our nation".
10.14pm: Authorising the raid on Bin Laden's compound was the "toughest decision" of his presidency, Obama told the troops at Fort Campbell.
President Barack Obama addresses military personnel who have recently returned from Afghanistan at Fort Campbell, Kentucky Photograph: Charles Dharapak/AP
10.19pm: A Saudi national charged in the US with helping Bin Laden in the 1998 bombing of US embassies in Africa expects to be extradited in the next few months to face the charges after more than 12 years in British custody, according to Reuters.
The news agency reports:
US prosecutors in New York have charged Khalid al-Fawwaz with helping al Qaeda and its leader bin Laden orchestrate the 1998 car bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed 224 people.
In a letter to Judge Lewis Kaplan of Manhattan federal court, who is presiding over the case, lawyer David Kirby asked to be appointed as al-Fawwaz's U.S. defense lawyer. The judge denied the request, asking the lawyer to renew his application once al-Fawwaz, who is in his 40s, arrives.
"He anticipates extradition from the United Kingdom to the
United States within the next few months to face these charges," said Kirby's letter which was made public on Friday.
Kirby told Reuters he had been in touch with al-Fawwaz's British lawyers who said they had exhausted all efforts to fight his extradition and he could arrive in the United States as early as in the next few weeks.
Al-Fawwaz was arrested in Britain in 1998. His last listed British attorney, Akhtar Raja, could not immediately be reached for comment.
A spokeswoman for the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office declined to comment.
Tanzanian national Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani was sentenced to life in prison in January over the embassy bombings following a six-week trial in Manhattan. He was the first former Guantanamo Bay detainee to face a civilian trial in the United States.
US prosecutors have said al-Fawwaz was deeply involved in a worldwide conspiracy against Americans with bin Laden.
Al-Fawwaz moved to London in the 1990s from Kenya with his family and established an organization called the Advice and Reformation Committee, a political group headed by bin Laden that was said to be campaigning for peaceful reform in Saudi Arabia.
Through al-Fawwaz, bin Laden published several threats against the United States in 1990s for keeping troops in Saudi Arabia and against so-called crusaders for allegedly waging war on Muslims, investigators say.
A missile strike from a US military drone in a remote region of Yemen on Thursday was aimed at killing Anwar al Awlaki, the radical American-born cleric tipped as a possible successor to Bin Laden,
the New York Times reports.
The attack, first reported on the Web site of The Wall Street Journal, does not appear to have killed him, US officials told the newspaper, but the strike may have claimed the lives of some members of Al Qaida's affiliate in Yemen.
12.19am: Here is summary of developments from today:
Al-Qaida has vowed to carry out revenge attacks on the US and its allies over the killing of Osama bin Laden, warning that celebrations in the west would be replaced by sorrow and blood.
The US government remains "highly vigilant" of any attempt by al-Qaida to avenge the killing of Osama bin Laden by US special forces in Pakistan, according to the White House.
President Obama has personally thanked the special forces team that carried out the operation in Abbottabad. He told returning troops from Afghanistan that authorising the raid on Bin Laden's compound was the "toughest decision" of his presidency.
Two United Nations human rights watchdogs have asked the US to provide details about the raid that killed Laden, in particular whether it ever included the possibility that he could be captured alive.
US intelligence analysts say Bin Laden played a direct role for years in plotting attacks from his hide-out in Abbottabad. The New York Times says documents taken at the compound showed plans to derail a train on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
This blog is being closed now, but
you can read the Guardian's latest article on the aftermath to Bin Laden's death here.
