The killing of Osama bin Laden by U.S. Navy SEALs ended a decade-long manhunt for the architect of the September 11 attacks.
Key Facts
- Operation name
- Operation Neptune Spear
- SEALs involved
- Two dozen Navy SEALs
- Raid duration
- 40 minutes
- Launch distance
- 120 miles from Jalalabad, Afghanistan
- Additional killed
- Three men and one woman in the compound
- Abbottabad Commission report leaked
- July 8, 2013, by Al Jazeera
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Osama bin Laden, founder of al-Qaeda and mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks, evaded capture after escaping during the Battle of Tora Bora in December 2001. He subsequently lived in Pakistan, allegedly with local support, and remained the primary target of a sustained U.S. military and CIA manhunt for nearly a decade.
On May 2, 2011, SEAL Team Six, operating under JSOC and the CIA, raided bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Launched from near Jalalabad in two Black Hawk helicopters, the 40-minute mission resulted in bin Laden being shot and killed. His body was subsequently identified and buried at sea in the Arabian Sea.
Al-Qaeda confirmed bin Laden's death on May 6, 2011, and vowed retaliation, as did Pakistani militant groups. Pakistan's government faced domestic and international scrutiny over its failure to detect or prevent the raid. An internal inquiry, the Abbottabad Commission, found a collective failure of Pakistani military and intelligence services, though its report was classified until leaked in 2013.