CNN news 2011-05-05
All right. This hour, our special coverage continues in the killing of Osama bin Laden.
Hello, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes.
And I'm Carol Costello.
We would like to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. And we want to bring you up to date, up to the minute with the latest details.
The al Qaeda leader was killed by U.S. forces inside a mansion outside of Islamabad, Pakistan. They swept into the compound by helicopter and say bin Laden was among the five people killed in a firefight.
President Obama signed off on the mission on Friday after months of intelligence work concluded Obama that bin Laden was hiding there.
In fact senior administration officials believe the compound was built five years ago for the specific purpose of hiding bin Laden. Sources say facial imaging techniques confirmed bin Laden's identity.
A U.S. government official said DNA testing is also under way. The U.S. forces removed his body and they buried him at sea.
We're going to have many more details on how this all unfolded throughout the morning.
So much to talk about. For nearly 10 years now, New York's Ground Zero has been an emotional epicenter of 9/11 and all its horrible memories, but within minutes of the bin Laden announcement, it erupted in celebration.
USA. USA. USA. USA.
All night, New Yorkers have flocked to the site of the fallen towers. The mood there, usually reserved, of course, somewhat somber. That changed with word of Osama bin Laden's death.
For nearly a decade, bin Laden has been the most wanted man in the world. Today, the FBI is updating his status with a single word -- deceased.
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.
It wasn't just New York either. Celebrations broke out across the United States with news that Osama bin Laden had been killed.