Featured Image Credit: Alamy / CPA Media Pte Ltd / WDC Photos
Topics: US News, Barack Obama, Politics
Emily Brown
Topics: US News, Barack Obama, Politics
On this day in 2011, the world learned that terrorist Osama bin Laden had been found and killed by US Navy SEALS.
He was shot in a targeted operation at a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where the US team engaged in a firefight before taking custody of bin Laden's body.
But prior to his death, the founder of al Qaeda, the group responsible for the 9/11 attacks, shared some final words.
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Some of the last people bin Laden spoke to were his family members, who were at the compound when the SEALS launched their operation.
His fourth and youngest wife, Amal, has previously opened up about the events in an interview with The Times, recalling how she'd heard bin Laden call out for his 22-year-old son, Khalid, to 'come up' to him as the American soldiers began to run across a field towards them.
Khalid told bin Laden and Amal: "Americans are coming."
He was holding an AK-47 rifle, and Amal recalled bin Laden telling her that the last time his son had fired a weapon was when he was just 13 years old, almost a decade earlier.
Two of bin Laden's four wives went to comfort the younger children in their home before gathering together as a gate to the compound was blown open by the SEALS.
“They want me, not you,” bin Laden told them.
He told his family to go downstairs, but Amal refused to move and instead stayed with bin Laden and another of their sons, Hussein.
Bin Laden is said to have prayed in that moment, and before a SEAL came into the room and aimed his gun at bin Laden, he uttered what are believed to be his last words: "Don’t turn on the light."
Then-president Barack Obama announced the news of bin Laden's death on 1 May, 2011, when he explained in a White House press conference how the operation went down.
"Good evening," he began. "Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda, and a terrorist who’s responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children."
"Tonight, we give thanks to the countless intelligence and counterterrorism professionals who’ve worked tirelessly to achieve this outcome," Obama continued. "The American people do not see their work, nor know their names. But tonight, they feel the satisfaction of their work and the result of their pursuit of justice.
"We give thanks for the men who carried out this operation, for they exemplify the professionalism, patriotism, and unparalleled courage of those who serve our country. And they are part of a generation that has borne the heaviest share of the burden since that September day."