VIDEO: The team that killed Bin Laden

4 May 2011 Last updated at 02:49 GMT Help

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VIDEO: Osama Bin Laden 'was not armed'

3 May 2011 Last updated at 20:47 GMT Help

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Markets rally on Bin Laden death

2 May 2011 Last updated at 07:33 GMT Stock markets have been volatile in past weeks The US dollar has rebounded and stock markets gained in Asia and Europe after US President Barack Obama said Osama Bin Laden had been killed.

Oil prices slid more than 1%, while "safe havens" such as gold and silver also lost value.

Analysts said Bin Laden's death could reduce security risks and would help lift consumer sentiment in the US.

But they warned that it would do little to ease the longer-term risks hanging over the US and global economies.

"There is some feel-good value and the market will like that," said Chip Hanlon of Delta Global Advisors.

But he added: "It doesn't change much about the energy situation and doesn't change much about the ongoing battle with radical Islamists."

Stock index futures indicated that Wall Street's main S&P 500 index would rise by 0.7% when it opened later on Monday.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 index gained 1.6%, closing above the 10,000 level for the first time since mid-March, when the country was struck by a deadly earthquake and tsunami.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was closed for a public holiday, but other bourses, including those in France and Germany, opened higher.

Several stock markets in Asia, including in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, were also closed for a public holiday on Monday and will react to the news of Bin Laden's death on Tuesday.

Cheaper crude

Brent crude oil was trading $1.45 lower at $124.44, while US light shed $1.50 to $112.43.

Oil prices have been pushed to near record levels in recent weeks by the fighting in Libya, and political instability in the Middle East.

At the same time, producer countries such as Saudi Arabia have increased their output in an effort to ease fears of a supply squeeze.

Silver was the day's biggest declining commodity. At one point, it was trading some 13% lower.

Gold also dropped as investors bet that economic growth in the US was improving, albeit slowly, and that gains in the two metals were overdone.

Analysts said the rise in stocks markets reflected a willingness by investors to put money into riskier assets, in the belief that Bin Laden's death had removed some of the uncertainties hanging over world events.

"There is always a reaction in commodities to news of this nature," said David Lennox of Fat Prophets.

"The markets will always react quickly, and in this case it is someone who has been held out as the father of all terrorism.

But any easing we might see in oil or gold markets, in my view, will be short-lived. The longer-term impact will not be substantial."

Greater threat?

But some analysts said Bin Laden's death might actually incite more violence around the world.

"The immediate thing is how it will affect US assets: its embassies, personnel and physical installations," said Arjuna Mahendran, chief strategist at HSBC Private Bank.

"Does it raise the threat level? That's the key thing. I think it does."

The US State Department has cautioned its embassies and citizens against the possibility of reprisals from al-Qaeda, the organisation that Bin Laden started and led.

The department has also issued a worldwide travel alert warning of greater potential for anti-American violence.

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VIDEO: The life of Osama Bin Laden

2 May 2011 Last updated at 06:10 GMT Help

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VIDEO: Cameron reaction to Bin Laden death

2 May 2011 Last updated at 06:35 GMT Help

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VIDEO: Osama Bin Laden killed in Pakistan

2 May 2011 Last updated at 09:24 GMT Help

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US forces kill Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan

2 May 2011 Last updated at 09:12 GMT Bin Laden was top of the US "most wanted" list Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden has been killed by US forces in Pakistan, President Barack Obama has said.

Bin Laden was killed in a ground operation outside Islamabad based on US intelligence, the first lead for which emerged last August.

Mr Obama said after "a firefight", US forces took possession of the body.

Bin Laden is believed to be the mastermind of the attacks on New York and Washington on 11 September 2001 and a number of others.

He was top of the US' "most wanted" list.

Mr Obama said it was "the most significant achievement to date in our nation's effort to defeat al-Qaeda".

The US has put its embassies around the world on alert, warning Americans of the possibility of al-Qaeda reprisal attacks for Bin Laden's killing.

Crowds gathered outside the White House in Washington DC, chanting "USA, USA" after the news emerged.

A US official quoted by Associated Press news agency said Bin Laden's body had been buried at sea, although this has not been confirmed.

Compound raided

Bin Laden had approved the 9/11 attacks in which nearly 3,000 people died.

Continue reading the main story Roger Hardy Islamic affairs analyst

How will al-Qaeda react? In the short term, the Obama administration is already bracing itself for possible revenge attacks. But for many the bigger question is whether, in the longer run, al-Qaeda can survive.

Since the start of the year, some experts have argued that the uprisings in the Arab world have rendered it irrelevant. They will see Bin Laden's death as confirming the trend. Perhaps.

But the root causes of radical Islam - the range of issues that enabled al-Qaeda to recruit disaffected young Muslims to its cause - remain, for the most part, unaddressed. The death of Bin Laden will strike at the morale of the global jihad, but is unlikely to end it.

He evaded the forces of the US and its allies for almost a decade, despite a $25m bounty on his head.

Mr Obama said he had been briefed last August on a possible lead to Bin Laden's whereabouts.

"It was far from certain, and it took many months to run this thread to ground," Mr Obama said.

"I met repeatedly with my national security team as we developed more information about the possibility that we had located Bin Laden hiding within a compound deep inside of Pakistan.

"And finally, last week, I determined that we had enough intelligence to take action, and authorised an operation to get Osama Bin Laden and bring him to justice," the president said.

On Sunday a team of US forces undertook the operation in Abbottabad, 100km (62 miles) north-east of Islamabad.

After a "firefight" Bin Laden was killed and his body taken by US forces, the president said.

Mr Obama said "no Americans were harmed".

Giving more details of the operation, a senior US official said a small US team had conducted the raid in about 40 minutes.

One helicopter was lost due to "technical failure". The team destroyed it and left in its other aircraft.

Three other men were killed in the raid - one of Bin Laden's sons and two couriers - the official said, adding that one woman was also killed when she was used as "a shield" and two other women were injured.

The size and complexity of the structure in Abbottabad had "shocked" US officials.

Barack Obama gives a statement confirming the death of Osama Bin Laden

It had 4m-6m (12ft-18ft) walls, was eight times larger than other homes in the area and was valued at "several million dollars", though it had no telephone or internet connection.

The US official said that intelligence had been tracking a "trusted courier" of Bin Laden for many years. The courier's identity was discovered four years ago, his area of operation two years ago and then, last August, his residence in Abbottabad was found, triggering the start of the mission.

Another senior US official said that no intelligence had been shared with any country, including Pakistan, ahead of the raid.

"Only a very small group of people inside our own government knew of this operation in advance," the official said.

The Abbottabad residence is just a few hundred metres from the Pakistan Military Academy - the country's equivalent of West Point.

The senior US official warned that the possibility of revenge attacks had now created "a heightened threat to the homeland and to US citizens and facilities abroad".

But the official added that "the loss of Bin Laden puts the group on a path of decline that will be difficult to reverse".

He said Bin Laden's probable successor, Ayman al-Zawahiri, was "far less charismatic and not as well respected within the organisation", according to reports from captured al-Qaeda operatives.

'Momentous achievement'

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Bin Laden had "paid for his actions".

A Pakistani government statement said Bin Laden's death "illustrates the resolve of the international community, including Pakistan, to fight and eliminate terrorism".

Former US President George W Bush described the news as a "momentous achievement".

"The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done," Mr Bush said in a statement.

BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner says that, to many in the West, Bin Laden became the embodiment of global terrorism, but to others he was a hero, a devout Muslim who fought two world superpowers in the name of jihad.

The son of a wealthy Saudi construction family, Bin Laden grew up in a privileged world. But soon after the Soviets invaded Afghanistan he joined the mujahideen there and fought alongside them with his Arab followers, a group that later formed the nucleus for al-Qaeda.

After declaring war on America in 1998, Bin Laden is widely believed to have been behind the bombings of US embassies in East Africa, the attack on the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000 and the attacks on New York and Washington.

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Bin Laden death prompts UK alert

2 May 2011 Last updated at 08:59 GMT Osama Bin Laden was blamed for the 9/11 attacks by the US The UK has been urged to be vigilant in the wake of the death of al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, with embassies worldwide ordered to review their security.

Bin Laden, blamed by the US for the 9/11 attacks, was killed by US forces about 62 miles from Pakistan's capital.

Prime Minister David Cameron hailed the death as "a great success" but said it was not the end of terror threats.

Foreign Secretary William Hague said the network may try to reassert itself.

Mr Cameron said early on Monday, just hours after US President Barak Obama confirmed the death: "The news Osama Bin Laden is dead will bring great relief to people across the world."

He later spoke from the prime minister's country residence, Chequers: "This news will be welcomed right across our country. Of course, it does not mark the end of the threat we face from extremist terror - indeed we will have to be particularly vigilant in the weeks ahead. But it is, I believe, a massive step forward."

Following Bin Laden's death, the US put its embassies around the world on alert, warning Americans of the possibility of al-Qaeda reprisal attacks for Bin Laden's killing.

Mr Hague also stressed the likelihood of reprisals against UK targets.

"We must remember that this is not the end of being vigilant against al-Qaeda and associated groups, and, in fact, there may be parts of al-Qaeda that will try to show that they are still in business in the coming weeks, as indeed some of them are.

David Cameron: "It is a massive step forward"

"So I have already this morning asked our embassies to review their security, to make sure that vigilance is heightened - and I think that will have to be our posture for some time to come.

"This is a very serious blow to al-Qaeda, but like any organisation that has suffered a serious blow, they will want to show in some way that they are still able to operate."

Bin Laden was top of the US "most wanted" list, and President Obama said his death was "the most significant achievement to date in our nation's effort to defeat al-Qaeda".

In the attacks in New York and Washington on 11 September, 2001, 67 Britons were among the 3,000 people killed when four planes were hijacked and flown into New York's World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania.

Tony Blair, UK prime minister at the time of the attacks, expressed his "heartfelt gratitude to President Obama and to all of those who so brilliantly undertook and executed this operation".

Continue reading the main story

Frankly there were periods during those 10 years when it was far from certain where Bin Laden was or even that the trail had not gone cold”

End Quote Douglas Alexander Shadow Foreign Secretary "We should never forget 9/11 was also the worst ever terrorist attack against UK civilians, and our thoughts are with all those - American, British and from nations across the world - who lost their lives and with their loved ones who remain and who live with their loss.

"The operation shows those who commit acts of terror against the innocent will be brought to justice, however long it takes."

Mr Cameron said it was "a time to remember all those murdered" by Bin Laden, and he congratulated Mr Obama and others responsible for carrying out the operation.

"Osama Bin Laden was responsible for the worst terrorist atrocities the world has seen - for 9/11 and for so many attacks, which have cost thousands of lives, many of them British," Mr Cameron said.

"It is a great success that he has been found and will no longer be able to pursue his campaign of global terror."

Bin Laden evaded the forces of the US and its allies for almost a decade, despite a $25m (£15m) bounty on his head.

He was killed in a firefight in a fortified residence in Abbottabad, 100km (62 miles) north-east of Islamabad.

William Hague: "We should be relieved that Osama Bin Laden's terror... is now at an end"

The property had 4m-6m (12ft-18ft) walls, was eight times larger than other homes in the area and was valued at "several million dollars", though it had no telephone or internet connection.

Mr Hague acknowledged that there had been a "general assumption" that Bin Laden was hiding in the mountainous, tribal regions of Pakistan rather than the area around the capital, Islamabad.

But he added: "I don't think we're surprised by anything any more."

'Huge setback'

Shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander said he agreed with Mr Cameron in congratulating the US special forces.

He too emphasised the need to remain vigilant, but added: "It is a huge setback for al-Qaeda, because the survival of Osama Bin Laden had become part of the propaganda that they were using to try and bring people to their hate-filled ideology."

Mr Alexander said there had been a continued international focus to bring Bin Laden to justice, "but frankly there were periods during those 10 years when it was far from certain where Bin Laden was or even that the trail had not gone cold".

"There will be plenty of time for questions to be asked and answers offered," he said, adding that immediate steps needed to be taken to keep everybody safe.

He also said there needed to continued efforts to ensure that people in Pakistan and across the region understand that their best interests are served by following the rule of law.

Former Foreign Secretary David Miliband tweeted his reaction to the death of Osama Bin Laden, saying: "A day to remember the victims of terrorism and the bravery of our troops. But also a historic chance to build for the future."

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