WASHINGTON - Al Qaeda's elusive leader Osama bin Laden is dead and his body has been recovered by U.S. authorities, CNN reported on Sunday night. President Barack Obama was to make the announcement shortly. The New York Times has made the death its banner headline, citing a US official.
The news comes nearly 10 years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States, the worst assault on American territory since Pearl Harbor which triggered the Pacific conflict of World War II.
9/11 led to the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and in 2003 Iraq, countries where the US is still engaged in its longest conflict since the Vietnam War.
The US has been pursuing Osama for just as long, nearly capturing him in the cave complex of Tora Bora in Afghanistan in December 2001, before he reportedly escaped by mule to Pakistan.
Confidential US cables recently released by WikiLeaks reveal that Osama, a wealthy Arab who bankrolled much of Al Queda's operations through the years, has recently been hard-up, even forced to borrow money from colleagues.
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