Osama bin Laden Tewas Setelah Ditembak di Kepala
Rita Uli Hutapea - detikNews
Osama bin Laden (Reuters)
Rakyat AS Rayakan Kematian Osama
Jakarta - Presiden Amerika Serikat Barack Obama telah mengumumkan kematian Osama bin Laden. Pemimpin jaringan Al Qaeda itu tewas dalam serangan pasukan AS di Pakistan. Osama tewas setelah ditembak di bagian kepala.
Hal itu disampaikan pejabat-pejabat AS kepada stasiun televisi
NBC, seperti dilansir
MSNBC, Senin (2/5/2011).
Dikatakan pejabat-pejabat yang enggan disebutkan namanya itu, pasukan Operasi Khusus AS melancarkan serangan terhadap sebuah bangunan di luar Islamabad, Pakistan. Dalam pertempuran yang terjadi Minggu, 1 Mei itu, personel AS melepaskan tembakan yang mengenai kepala Osama. Dia pun tewas dalam kontak senjata itu.
Sebelumnya, dalam pidatonya di Gedung Putih, Obama menyampaikan bahwa pasukan AS telah menewaskan Osama yang telah bertahun-tahun diburu Angkatan Bersenjata AS.
Dikatakan Obama, pada Agustus lalu, pejabat intelijen AS mendapatkan informasi mengenai keberadaan Osama yang kemudian mendorong adanya operasi yang puncaknya terjadi pada Minggu kemarin dengan kematian Osama.
"Dan akhirnya, pekan lalu, saya putuskan bahwa saya telah mendapatkan intelijen yang cukup untuk bertindak dan memerintahkan operasi untuk menangkap Osama bin Laden dan mengadilinya," kata Obama dalam pidatonya di Gedung Putih.
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Osama bin Laden was killed in an air strike, with his body in US custody.
Source: PerthNow
US President Barack Obama has confirmed the world's most wanted terrorist, Osama bin Laden, is dead.
Speaking from the White House the US commander-in-chief said, "I can report to the American people and to the world, that the US has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden.�
Following the announcement the US State Department issued a global travel alert to all American citizens warning of "enhanced potential" for anti-American violence.
Following the announcement the US also put its embassies on alert, warning Americans of al-Qa'ida reprisal attacks.
US military bases around the world have been ordered to raise their threat level.
Mr Obama said the US had been narrowing down bin Laden's whereabouts since receiving breakthrough intelligence in October.
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The US president finally ordered a military strike this morning on a compound in Abbottabad, about 65km north of the Pakistani capital Islamabad.
"After a firefight they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body," Mr Obama said.
Four helicopters launched the attack in the Bilal area of Abbottabad, which is home to a Pakistani military academy, a Pakistani intelligence official said.
One of the helicopters crashed after it was apparently hit by fire from the ground, the official said. He gave no word on casualties.
He said the helicopters took off from a Pakistani air base in the north of the country.
Women and children were taken into custody during the raid, he said.
Mr Obama said the death of bin Laden would not end the fight against terrorism.
"The death of bin Laden marks the most significant achievement to date in our nation's efforts to defeat al-Qa'ida," he said.
"We must and will remain vigilant at home and abroad."
Mr Obama stressed the US was not at war with Islam and that bin Laden was a mass murdered or Muslim people.
"His demise should be welcomed by all who believe in peace," Mr Obama said.
"Bin Laden had declared war against Pakistan as well and ordered attacks against the Pakistani people.
"They agree that this is a good and historic day for both of our nations."
Bin Laden's body has reportedly been moved to Afghanistan. A US official said bin Laden's body was being handled in accordance with Islamic practices.
Mr Obama said cooperation with Pakistan had helped lead the US to bin Laden.
He said the United States people understood the cost of war, but would not stand by if threatened.
"As a country we will never tolerate our security being threatened nor stand idly by when our people have been killed," he said.
"We will be relentless in defence of our citizens and our friends and allies.
"We will be true to the values that make us who we are.
"And on nights like this one we can say to those families who have lost loved ones to al Qa'ida terror, justice has been done."
Pakistani officials also confirmed death of bin Laden, saying his death was the result of "highly sensitive" operation involving Pakistani intelligence operatives.
It has been reported DNA tests confirmed his death.
Outside the White House, tourists and visitors were heard chanting USA! USA! before Obama made any official announcement.
The Muslim fanatic, 54, is blamed for masterminding the 9/11 terrorist attacks that killed more than 3000 people.
On September 11, 2001, al-Qa'ida terrorists hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners and intentionally crashed two of them into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, killing everyone on board and many others in the building.
A third hit the Pentagon and the fourth crashed in a field after passengers fought back against the hijackers.
The US has relentlessly pursued its search for bin Laden after he evaded capture during the American-led invasion of Afghanistan.
US armed forces have been hunting the Saudi terror kingpin for years, an effort that was redoubled following the 2001 terror attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon which killed 3000 people.
But bin Laden always managed to evade US armed forces and a massive manhunt, and was most often thought to be hiding out in Pakistan and Afghanistan border areas.
Late last month Bin Laden warned al-Qa'ida would unleash a "nuclear hellstorm" if bin Laden was captured, according to classified documents released by WikiLeaks.
The documents, released by Wikileaks and detailing the interrogation of more than 750 Guantanamo Bay detainees, reveal that the terrorist organisation plotted major chemical and biological attacks on Britain and mass poisonings across the US.
The intelligence assessments, written between 2002 and 2009 by US military intelligence officials, provide a detailed account of the movements of bin Laden, his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri and other senior al-Qa'ida leaders following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.
According to documents, a senior al-Qa'ida commander claimed the terrorist group had hidden a nuclear bomb in Europe that would be set off in the event of bin Laden's capture or assassination. Numerous attempts by al-Qa'ida to obtain nuclear materials and uranium were uncovered by interrogators, the paper said.
The threat to unleash a nuclear hellstorm was made by Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the most senior detainee held at Guantanamo and the confessed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, who is due to face a military tribunal later this year.