DNA tests confirm Bin Laden's death: US

DNA tests have confirmed that Osama bin Laden is dead, a senior US official said Monday, a day after a daring raid by US special forces on the Al-Qaeda leader's compound in Pakistan.

The official confirmed on condition of anonymity that a DNA match had been established with bin Laden's body before it was buried at sea after the raid.

Another official said they were convinced the US operation had indeed killed bin Laden.

"Bin Laden's DNA has been matched to several family members. And there is at least 99 pecent certainty that the DNA matches that of Osama Bin Laden," the second official told AFP.

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Al Qaeda leader bin Laden dead: US

Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan and his body has been recovered by US authorities, Obama said on Sunday night.

Obama made the dramatic announcement in a hastily called, late-night appearance at the White House: That the mastermind of the September 11, 2001, attacks was killed in an American-led operation in a mansion outside Islamabad. 
    
It is a major accomplishment for Obama and his national security team, after many Americans had given up hope of ever finding bin Laden.

The attack also left three men and a woman dead, including a son of the Al Qaeda chief, officials said.

A crowd gathered outside the White House to celebrate, chanting, "USA, USA."

Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, had repeatedly vowed to bring bin Laden to justice "dead or alive" for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington that killed nearly 3,000 people, but never did before leaving office in early 2009.

US officials said that after searching in vain for the Al Qaeda leader since he disappeared in Afghanistan in late 2001, the Saudi-born extremist was killed and his body recovered.

Having the body may help convince any doubters that bin Laden is really dead.

He had been the subject of a search since he eluded US soldiers and Afghan militia forces in a large-scale assault on the Tora Bora mountains in 2001. The trail quickly went cold after he disappeared and many intelligence officials believed he had been hiding in Pakistan.

While in hiding, bin Laden had taunted the West and advocated his militant views in videotapes spirited from his hideaway.

Besides September 11, Washington has also linked bin Laden to a string of attacks -- including the 1998 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and the 2000 bombing of the warship USS Cole in Yemen. 

US President Barack Obama said on Sunday that the United States killed Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the man responsible for the September 11, 2001, attacks that killed nearly 3,000 Americans.