All the major news services are reporting it - Arab, European, American, Pakistan also.
He was supposedly killed in a fire fight.
So ends the hunt for the most hunted man in modern history
All the time hiding in Pakistan!
Even so, he knew his ticket was going to be punched, he had slipped back into being more of a founding leader, in exile. His death will likely inspire the ones who think he is 'cool'. You know how it is - its like pop starts who die, the interest in them reaches new heights. I guess Osama might even become an iconic figure like Che in some Islamic nations, but not in others.
Could be he was executed on the spot so as to not have the embarrassment of explaining how the CIA originally saw him as the good guy who helped fight Russia or the USSR as it was.
Also, the main witness in the 9/11 trial, is now gone and so is his version of his actual planning and execution of the atrocity. No chance of closure for victims loved ones or survivors and rescuers.
Could be that one of his own men planted the bullet - but I guess we will hear a lot of conflicting stories in the days to come.
As for Obama pleading to Muslims that this is not a war on Islam - lets not get away from the fact that Bin Laden is not unusual in that he used a certain religion to attract followers who were capable of extreme violence. Whenever we hear of a bomb going off in a crowded public place, its almost always Islam. It is not Christians, Jews, Sikhs or so on. But politicians have to appease Muslims by saying its a great religion and we should all respect it. It is law in some nations almost. Criticising it can be an offence.
Most Islamic forces, that threaten Israel and the USA, don't care about Bin Laden and they make his forces look like a Sunday School boys club.
I guess Obama is still intent on actually going to war with these Muslims whether he can bring himself to say it or not.
And the death of Bin Laden hardly means the thousands who follow him will be shutting down operations as they are in the middle of an Arab Spring in which the secret police and regimes which stopped them getting too powerful are now falling.
Things are changing - who knows what the future may bring?