Update (AP): Howard Kurtz listened in on a conference call given by U.S. officials about the raid on the compound:
Security at the compound was extraordinary, an official said, with 12- to 18-foot walls topped by barbed wire. Yet the $1 million compound had no phone or Internet service. Our best assessment was that bin Laden was living there with several family members, including his youngest wife, the official said.
Asked what bin Laden did once the U.S. team landed, an official would say only: He did resist the assault force.
Officials said three other men were killed in the raidone who is believed to be bin Ladens adult son, and two couriers. One woman was killed when she was used as a shield by one of the combatants, they said. The U.S. team lost a helicopter due to mechanical failure.
I cant wait for the full details tomorrow and then, in a year or two, the inevitable movie. More from ABC News and Brian Ross. It was, of course, the Navy SEALs who were the tip of the spear:
The U.S. had been monitoring the compound in Abbottabad for months after receiving a tip in August that Bin Laden might be seeking shelter there. He had long been said to be in the mountainous region along the Afghanistan, Pakistan border, hiding in a cave as the U.S. sought to kill him with drone strikes from above. Instead, he was in a house eight times larger than its neighbors, with a seven-foot wall and valued at $1 million. The house had no phone of television and the residents burned their trash. The house had high windows and few points of access, and U.S. officials concluded it had been built to hide someone.
According to U.S. officials, two U.S. helicopters swept into the compound at 1:30 and 2:00 a.m. Sunday morning. Twenty to 25 U.S. Navy Seals under the command of the Joint Special Operations Command in cooperation with the CIA stormed the compound and engaged Bin Laden and his men in a firefight, killed Bin Laden and all those with him.
Pakistani officials say it was a joint operation; U.S. officials say that only Americans were involved in the raid. Hmmmm. Oh and Bin Laden did, reportedly, fire his gun. Savor the terror he must have felt in those last moments as those SEALs came through the windows and doors.
