ISLAMABAD // Osama bin Laden was holed up in a two-storey house about 100 metres from a Pakistani military academy when four helicopters carrying US anti-terror forces swooped in the early morning hours of Monday and killed him.
Flames rose Monday from the building that was the apparent target of the raid as it was confirmed that the world's most wanted fugitive died not in a cave, but in a town best known as a garrison for the Pakistani military. A US official said one of bin Laden's sons was also killed in the raid alone with three others, but the official did not name the son or the others killed.
Pakistani officials and a witness said bin Laden's guards opened fire from the roof of the building, and one of the choppers crashed. The sound of at least two explosions rocked the small northwestern town of Abbottabad where the al Qa'eda chief made his last stand. The US said no Americans were harmed in the raid.
Abbottabad is home to at least one regiment of the Pakistani army, is dotted with military buildings and home to thousands of army personnel. Surrounded by hills and with mountains in the distance, it is less than half a day's drive from the border region with Afghanistan, where most intelligence assessments believed bin Laden was holed up.
