Osama bin Laden Killed in Abbottabad

In the early hours of May 2, 2011, two US Black Hawk helicopters carrying 23 Navy SEALs from DEVGRU (SEAL Team Six) crossed into Pakistani airspace from Afghanistan without Pakistani knowledge or permission. Their target: a three-story compound in Abbottabad, a garrison city just 1.3 kilometers from the Pakistan Military Academy at Kakul. Inside, the SEALs found and killed Osama bin Laden, the founder of al-Qaeda and mastermind of the September 11 attacks, who had been hiding in the compound for nearly six years. The 40-minute operation, codenamed Neptune Spear, was ordered by President Barack Obama after months of intelligence work tracing bin Laden's courier. Bin Laden's body was buried at sea within 24 hours. The raid was a triumph of American intelligence and special operations — and a devastating humiliation for Pakistan. The revelation that the world's most wanted terrorist had lived for years in a military town, possibly with elements of Pakistani intelligence aware of his presence, shattered whatever remained of trust between Washington and Islamabad.