Osama bin Laden, the elusive mastermind behind the devastating September 11, 2001, terror attacks that led the United States into war in Afghanistan and later Iraq, was killed in a firefight, President Barack Obama said on Sunday. Bin Laden's death at a compound in Pakistan ended the world's most widely-watched manhunt, and jubilant crowds gathered outside the White House and at ground zero in New York as word spread late at night. A small team of Americans killed bin Laden early on Sunday in the town of Abbottabat, about 100 kilometers north of the capital Islamabad, US and Pakistani officials said. The team took custody of his remains and American officials said they were being handled in accordance with Islamic tradition. The death of the worlds's most-wanted man came just months before the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centres and Pentagon, orchestrated by bin Laden's al-Qaeda organisation, that killed more than 3 000 people.
Former President George W Bush, who was in office on the day of the attacks, issued a written statement hailing bin Laden's death as a momentous achievement.