The founder and leader of al Qaeda was killed by U.S. forces Monday in a mansion in Abbottabad, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of the Pakistani capital of Islamabad. Four others in the compound were also killed. One of them was bin Laden's adult son, and another was a woman being used as a shield by a male combatant.
Bin Laden's body was later buried at sea. Many Muslims adhere to the belief that bodies should be buried within one day.
In an address to the nation Sunday night, U.S. President Barack Obama called bin Laden's death "the most significant achievement to date in our nation's effort to defeat al Qaeda." Washington is nine hours behind Pakistan.
The killing of bin Laden was the culmination of years of intelligence work and months of following a specific lead, senior U.S. administration officials said.
Bin Laden eluded capture for years, once reportedly slipping out of a training camp in Afghanistan just hours before a barrage of U.S. cruise missiles destroyed it.
He had been implicated in a series of deadly, high-profile attacks that had grown in their intensity and success during the 1990s. They included a deadly firefight with U.S. soldiers in Somalia in October 1993, the bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa that killed 224 in August 1998, and an attack on the USS Cole that killed 17 sailors in October 2000.
Мany Americans were soaking up the historic moment.
Information about bin Laden's organisation - Al-Qaeda
Barack Obama speaking about Osama bin Laden's Death
CNN - Carrying coffins above their heads, a crowd of mourners gathered in the streets in Benghazi, Libya, on Sunday as protesters against longtime ruler Moammar Gadhafi showed no sign of letting up.
Protesters vowed to hit the streets again Sunday, saying a violent crackdown by security forces since demonstrations started last week has left them energized.
The reported death toll grew quickly over the weekend, passing 180.
97 people were killed in the city since Saturday, following clashes between protesters and security forces. All those confirmed dead were wearing civilian clothing and are believed to be protesters, the sources said. Medical sources at a Misratah hospital said at least three died and 70 were wounded in clashes Saturday between security forces and anti-government protesters. Three of those injured were in critical condition, the sources said.
On Friday, Human Rights Watch said 84 people had been killed by government security forces. The group cited interviews with hospital staff and witnesses. Meanwhile, a doctor in Benghazi said her facility is taking on trauma patients because a trauma hospital in the city is inundated by those injured. "All of them have been injured by bullets," said the doctor, whose identity is not being released for security reasons. She said most suffered gunshot wounds to the head, chest or neck.
Benghazi, the North African nation's second-largest city and hub of its eastern province, was home to some of the bloodiest clashes Saturday. Still, an anti-government demonstrator there said that despite having been barraged for days by tear gas and bullets, many of his colleagues slept outside the city's courthouse and planned another rally for Sunday afternoon. "There are a lot of people getting killed for their freedom," the man, who was not identified for safety reasons, told CNN Sunday. "Our goal is simple: We want Gadhafi to leave. We want freedom. ... We want democracy."
The man, a technology expert who has set up cameras airing live online video streams around Benghazi, estimated that the numbers of anti-government demonstrators in the city has grown by 20% since the protests began Tuesday.
A report from Libya's state-run JANA news agency blames "acts of sabotage and burning" on outsiders aiming to undermine the nation's stability, security and unity. The report claims that the unrest has been fomented in Libya as well as Tunisia, Morocco, Sudan, Egypt, Lebanon and Iran by an Israeli-led network of covert operatives. Since Wednesday, authorities have arrested "dozens of foreign members of this network who were trained on starting clashes," the JANA story said, adding that the outsiders were of Tunisian, Egyptian, Sudanese, Turkish, Palestinian and Syrian descent.
Lt. Col. Mohammed al-Majbari, who helped lead Libyan military forces in Benghazi before deciding early this week to join the opposition, claimed that government forces -- aided by mercenaries from other African countries -- "caused a massacre." "It is time for freedom," al-Majbari said. "(Gadhafi) is not a human being. A Libyan would never do this to his people. He is a dictator."
A Libyan woman supportive of the protesters, who was not identified to protect her safety, told CNN that army soldiers on Saturday initially claimed solidarity with the demonstrators, only to reverse their tack and open fire on the crowd. "The soldiers ... said, 'We are with you.' We believed them," she said. "After that, they started shooting the people. Why? Why did they lie?"
Others in Libya reported similar protests in the cities of al-Baida, Ajdabiya and significantly in Misratah -- an indication that the demonstrations centered in the east were spreading west.
A protester identified only as Moftah told CNN that Libyans, inspired by the toppling of dictators in neighboring Egypt and Tunisia, had simply had enough of Gadhafi. "He will tell you that his secret police are everywhere," Moftah said. "It's time to break this fear barrier. We reach a point that we don't care anymore."
The official Jamahiriya News Agency reported that Gadhafi had spoken in recent days with fellow leaders from Guinea, Liberia and Yemen.
The government also sent out, via text, a tacit warning against "the inappropriate use of telecommunications services (that) contradict our religion ... our customs ... and our traditions." Internet service in Libya shut down Friday evening, though it was more available by Sunday.
The government's firm grip on power heightened the concerns of a woman from Benghazi, who urged U.S. President Barack Obama and other world leaders to help the Libyan people in the face of the government crackdown. "We have no freedom here," she said. "I speak to all the world, to America, to Mr. Obama: Please help us. We (did) nothing. We want to live a good life."
The female doctor at the Benghazi hospital said Sunday she worries more violence will ensue. "I think -- and I hope not -- it's going to be (a) more disastrous situation than yesterday because yesterday was more of a disaster than the two days before," she said. "I'm so scared."
CNN - Moammar Gadhafi's first grab at power occurred 42 years ago in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, when he led a crew of fellow military officers in taking over key government institutions on his way to usurping the nation's monarchy.
Ever since, he's referred to himself as the Leader of the Revolution -- though politically, at least, Libya has appeared to be largely stable, with few threats to Gadhafi's power. But that all changed this past week, with reports that tens of thousands took to the streets calling for an end to Gadhafi's rule. And, once again, that change began in Benghazi.
Phone interviews with witnesses and others on the ground suggest that some of Gadhafi's strongest opposition has been in Benghazi, where protests began and have escalated. Since then, there have been indications that the opposition movement has spread westward toward the capital Tripoli.
Why Gadhafi suddenly came under fire after decades of a strong-handed, seemingly stable rule remains a question.
One obvious factor is that Libya borders Tunisia, where popular unrest last month helped unseat authoritarian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali after more than two decades in power. Weeks later, a similar movement contributed to the end of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule.
Gadhafi is far from alone now. Anti-government protests have popped up all around the Arab world, with pressure growing on powerful leaders in places like Bahrain, Yemen and Algeria.
Gadhafi was a captain in Libya's army when, on September 1, 1969 -- which is referred to as Revolution Day in Libya -- he and others launched the coup by assuming control of key institutions in Benghazi. The overthrow was completed in two hours, according to GlobalSecurity.org, an independent provider of security information. At the time, the United States had military aircraft at Wheelus Air Base in Libya. And Washington did not initially oppose the coup, a 2008 Congressional Research Service report noted.
Gadhafi soon established himself as one of America's most vocal, and flamboyant, enemies.
By 1972, Gadhafi urged Muslims to fight the United States and Great Britain and vowed support for black revolutionaries in America. The next year, he launched a program "to destroy imported ideologies, whether they are Eastern or Western," a U.S. State Department timeline noted. In 1979, the U.S. designated Libya as a state sponsor of terrorism. The relationship only worsened in the 1980s, when U.S. military aircraft shot down two Libyan fighter jets. Libya's alleged attacks in Sudan, support for Nicaragua's Sandanista government and role in the bombing of a West Berlin nightclub only further stoked the ire of the administration of U.S. President Ronald Reagan, who called Gadhafi a "mad dog."
Libya's standing took a turn with the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people. World pressure intensified on Tripoli after Libyan intelligence agents were implicated.
By 1993, Gadhafi told the International Herald Tribune that he was taking a more conciliatory approach to world affairs. He called U.S. President Bill Clinton "the savior of the new world," and decried Islamic militants as "mad dogs" and "terrorists." Clinton continued to keep pressure on Libya, signing a law imposing sanctions on companies that invested more than $40 million in that nation's petroleum industry. By 1999, Libya finally agreed to transfer the Pan Am 103 suspects for a trial in the Netherlands, leading to their conviction two years later. While still known for sometimes unconventional comments, Gadhafi appeared to evolve into more of a statesman -- at least internationally. In 2009, he was elected by member states as head of the African Union. That year, he also addressed the United Nations' General Assembly for the first time. Still, he proved to be more a firebrand than an even-keeled diplomat, delivering a blistering, wide-ranging 96-minute rant.
His topics ranged from the U.N. Security Council to the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy to a one-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians: Isratine. Gadhafi blamed the U.N. for failing to prevent 65 wars since its founding in 1945. But he also had kind words for U.S. President Barack Obama: "We are content and happy if Obama can stay forever as the president of America," Gadhafi said. Even as the U.N., the United States and other nations gradually began to soften their stance on Libya, reports suggested that freedom and basic rights remained widely restricted under Gadhafi. "He hasn't changed," said Fouad Ajami, a professor at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. "This is a monster. And the Libyan people are suffering from this."
The government maintained a tight control over its communications, clamping down on news accounts critical of Gadhafi and his colleagues. It also restricted outside media access, including denying repeated requests from CNN to enter the country this month.
On Friday night, Libyan authorities shut down the nation's access to the internet, the U.S.-based tech firm Arbor Networks reported. While there have been indications of spotty Web coverage since, Libya sent out a text message warning about the "inappropriate use of telecommunications services." Internal political dissent was largely and often violently squashed. Moftah, an anti-government protester who did not give his full name for security reasons, said Gadhafi "always plays on fear" -- relying on a broad network of intelligence agents, secret police and others. "He makes you afraid of your family, of your friends," Moftah told CNN. "He will tell you that his secret police are everywhere."
And yet, despite the odds, people have still risen up this month against Gadhafi.
For years, Libya profited greatly from its vast oil reserves. One of Gadhafi's first orders of business after taking over was to assume control of properties and other interests of international petroleum companies. Still, even the great wealth of oil couldn't change the fact that Libya has suffered in the recent global economic downturn. As in much of the Arab world, youth unemployment is high in Libya -- and most of the population has never known a leader other than Gadhafi. And the fact it began in Benghazi, despite the Libyan leader's early history, is not a surprise, said Dirk Vandewalle, an associate professor at Dartmouth and author of "A History of Modern Libya." He noted that the coastal city has traditionally been seen as somewhat disloyal to Gadhafi's regime.
Whether the Libyan demonstrators can follow the leads of their Arab colleagues in Tunisia and Egypt remains to be seen. If they do, they will have to overcome a cult of personality -- much like prevailed in those countries -- without having any fallback as far as political institutions or legislation to build off should they succeed.
Unlike Egypt, Libya has no constitution, established institutions or any kind of mechanisms in place to support a new nation. The nation and its leader are one. "In Libya," Vandewalle said, "there is nothing beyond Gadhafi and his close circle."
