Osama Bin Laden: the Making of a Legend

The following report is extracted from the BBC London dispatches 3 May 2011 Last updated at 11:09 GMT
US intelligence agents focused in particular on one of Bin Laden's couriers

A high-risk operation was given the green light by President Barack Obama…. his counterterrorism adviser termed "one of the gutsiest calls by any president in recent memory" had achieved its aim, the death of Washington's most wanted man.

President and his team ……..with White House officials watching the operation unfold on a live video feed.

Welcome to Immortality, my Name is......

According to an official from Pakistan's main intelligence agency, the ISI, there were 17 or 18 people in the compound at the time of the attack, while US officials say those who survived the attack included a wife, a daughter, and eight to nine other children.
A woman was also killed. She was originally reported to be one of Bin Laden's wives, though later reports suggested his wife was only wounded. There have also been conflicting reports as to whether the woman who died was being used as a human shield.

The ISI and US officials contradict each other as to whether a detainee was taken away alive.

The al-Qaeda leader was in his bedroom when he was shot twice, officials said - once in the head and once in the chest.
At the climax, at the end of a 40-minute firefight, one of the soldiers uttered the words: "Geronimo E KIA" - meaning a man visually identified by a code word for Bin Laden had been killed in action, officials said.

"The concern was that Bin Laden would oppose any type of capture operation. Indeed, he did. It was a firefight. He, therefore, was killed in that firefight, and that's when the remains were removed......other US officials who spoke to news agencies on condition of anonymity denied that Bin Laden had returned fire.

Bin Laden's body was then flown to Afghanistan before eventually being buried at sea. US officials said this was to avoid his grave becoming a shrine

US officials said this was to avoid his grave becoming a shrine.
US officials said this was to avoid his grave becoming a shrine.

US officials said this was to avoid his grave becoming a shrine.
US officials said this was to avoid his grave becoming a shrine.

US officials said this was to avoid his grave becoming a shrine…………….