In Pakistan, “US special forces launched a helicopter-borne assault on a closely guarded compound in Abbottabad, 30 miles north-east of Islamabad, on Sunday night [May 1, 2001], [President Barack] Obama and US officials said. Bin Laden resisted the attackers and was killed along with three other men in a firefight. The operation lasted 40 minutes. The dead included Bin Laden’s most trusted courier, who carried his messages to the outside world, and one of Bin Laden’s sons, according to reports. A woman also died, according to some reports. It is not clear whether she was one of Bin Laden’s four wives.”
– Declan Walsh, Ewen MacAskill, and Jason Burke, “Osama bin Laden Killed in US Raid on Pakistan Hideout,” The Guardian, May 2, 2011