Step by step: how the sudden military operation that ended 10 years ago with Osama bin Laden ended

This was in 2010. On the eve of the ninth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers (New York) and the Pentagon (Washington), The Central Intelligence Agency of the United States (CIA for its acronym in English) told then President Barack Obama that they had the best lead in years to find the mastermind of the attacks and the leader of the attacks. Al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden.

Since 2007, US security authorities have been on the trail of Abu Ahmed al-Kuwait who, according to the statements of some prisoners of Guantánamo, was an emissary and a man of extreme confidence of the terrorist leader. In 2010, they confirmed that he was living with his brother – and their respective families – in a complex in Abbottabad, 100 kilometers from Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan.

The features of the vast complex caught the attention of North American intelligence: it was fortified by three-meter walls, with tall windows and only two access points. There was no TV, phone, or Internet connection, and garbage was burned daily in the gardens. For the CIA, there was no doubt that this three-story mansion, located in a modest neighborhood and valued at nearly a million dollars, served as a bunker or hideout. Despite the indications, there was no certainty that there was Bin Laden, who for years remained hidden in the porous mountains between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The United States needed reliable evidence to think about a possible assault operation.

As a result of the intense surveillance that was carried out in the vicinity of the complex, which included the use of spy satellites, the US intelligence services concluded that it was practically impossible to enter. Only local health workers had access to treat the children. Desperation to confirm the presence of the world’s most wanted man led the CIA to launch a bogus hepatitis B vaccination campaign, in an attempt to obtain a DNA sample from the people who lived in the house . Dr Shakeel Afridi was recruited for this mission.

Over the months, the conviction of CIA agents has increased. They were virtually convinced that the tall, bearded man they saw walking inside the compound was Bin Laden. But they didn’t have a clear view of his face.

At the end of December 2010, the United States was ready to act. Amid intense secrecy, senior army commanders began planning the operation. The first option was a missile attack. However, this was ruled out due to the difficulty of proving that the Al Qaeda leader was killed. The second option was a night helicopter assault.

The probable mission having already been studied and analyzed, the only thing missing was the decision of the executive. In early 2011, a CIA expert said he was 70% sure the man in the compound – identified as “Pacer”– It was Bin Laden. Another team from the agency, meanwhile, estimated the probability at just 40%. On Thursday, April 28 of the same year, Obama met with senior officials in the White House underground crisis room. “I wanted to hear everyone’s opinion,” he recalls. John brennan, then the president’s principal adviser on the fight against terrorism. Among those who opposed the raid were the Secretary of Defense, Robert gates, and the then vice-president, Joe biden. The rest of the high command was in favor.

A day later, on April 29, 2011, after intense days of secret meetings, Obama finally gave the green light to Special Forces to carry out the riskiest and most dangerous mission in a long time: capture Osama bin Laden dead or alive.

Operation Spear of Neptune, step by step

After an international persecution that lasted for nearly a decade, the date chosen to carry out the mission was Sunday, May 1. At approximately 10:30 p.m. local time, 25 soldiers from the elite Navy Seals unit took off in four Black Hawk helicopters from a US military base in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, to Abbottabad.

After midnight, neighbors woke up to the sound of helicopter engines flying over the city. After nearly an hour and a half of flight, the Marines had arrived at the compound in the middle of the night. One of the helicopters had to make an emergency landing due to technical problems. The US military has come down carrying explosives, weapons and night vision devices.

The mission, “Surgical precision”, was followed live from Washington by Obama, then Secretary of State Biden, Hillary Clinton, and senior defense and security commanders, who met in the White House situation room. In addition, it was coordinated in real time by the director of the CIA, Leon Panettaand senior intelligence officials from the agency’s headquarters in Langley, Virginia.

For security reasons, the President of the United States had not planned this mission to any other country. Nor to the Pakistani authorities, the operation had to be rapid; it was to culminate before the forces of that country were warned.

Before entering the house, the SEALs demolished a metal door and a brick wall with explosives. The hiding place had become a veritable labyrinth. Once inside, the soldiers found several women and children in different rooms. After advancing a few meters, there was a shootout. On the first floor, Al Kuwait, the much-followed emissary, was killed, and on the second floor Khalid bin Laden, one of the sons of the former al-Qaeda leader.

Part of the group went upstairs to make sure no one else was on the second floor, while two SEALS went straight to the top floor, looking for the large target. One of them was Robert o’neillwho arriving in the room he found the Saudi terrorist leader and a woman standing between them. But he didn’t hesitate. He aimed coldly and fired, killing them both. “Bin Laden’s head opened in the middle and he fell (…) I shot him again in the head, for safety,” he said years later in his book ” The Operator, “which recounts how the hunt was and the death of the Al Qaeda leader.

Then the Marines sent the most anticipated message: “Gerónimo EKIA” Gerónimo was the code name given to Bin Laden, in reference to a 19th century Apache leader considered to be the main terrorist of the time. EKIA stands for Enemy Killed In Action. Bin Laden had been killed.

“There was no applause or celebration. It was a sense of accomplishment, ”recalls Brennan.

They gathered documents and electronic devices, and after nearly 40 minutes, they put the body in a bag and hastily withdrew.

It was just after 1:00 a.m. Outside, meanwhile, curious neighbors began to approach to see what was going on in the face of so much disruption. Confusion which is accentuated when they observe a loud explosion in the distance: the American soldiers destroyed the damaged helicopter to prevent it from falling on fewer enemies. What the neighbors never imagined was that there, a few yards away, the most wanted man in the world had lived.

The Navy Seals quickly boarded the helicopters and They returned to Afghanistan, where they performed DNA tests on the body. After confirming his identity, he was transferred to the US aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, where they performed Muslim religious rites. When finished, they buried the body in the Arabian Sea.

“Justice has been served”

This Sunday, May 1, at night, more precisely at 11:35 p.m. Washington time, Obama appeared before the country, and before the world, to announce the death of Bin Laden. In a brief message, the then President of the United States, in addition to referring to the operation that ended the life of the terrorist leader, paid tribute to the thousands of victims of the September 11 attacks.

“Today, under my leadership, the United States launched and led an operation against this camp in Abbottabad, Pakistan. A small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and skill. No American was injured. They took care to avoid civilian casualties. After a shooting, they killed Osama bin Laden and took his body into custody. “

In his speech, which sparked a huge wave of mobilisations across the country to celebrate the news, Obama said the death of the terrorist leader marked “the most significant achievement in our efforts to defeat Al Qaeda.” And he concluded: “Let me tell the families who lost their loved ones on September 11 that we will never forget their loss or give up our commitment to do whatever is necessary to prevent another attack on our country. territory.”

Bin Laden was responsible for the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York and Washington, which Obama described as “the worst attack on the United States,” which killed around 3,000 people. In addition to these attacks, he was also accused of being behind other attacks such as the 1998 attacks on two US embassies in Africa, where 231 people died, and the 2000 attack on the ship of USS Cole war, Yemen, where 17 American sailors lost their lives.

Bin Laden’s death was a blow to Al Qaeda, but not the end of its terrorist operations. Today, ten years after this historic mission, the “More intense, secret and better planned”, as Brennan described it, the terrorist group assures that “the war against the United States will continue on all other fronts unless they are expelled from the rest of the Islamic world”. Following President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw his troops from Afghanistan, the organization led by Ayman al Zawahiri sent a disturbing warning to the White House: plans to return after US forces leave Afghanistan, to associate again with the Taliban.

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