Leaked report reveals how Osama bin Laden was taken out

US President  Barack Obama (second left) and Hillary Clinton

By Kipchumba Some

Today was Amal’s turn for the Shaikh (as Osama bin Laden — OBL — was referred to by his close family members) to be with her. She was the youngest of his wives. Their rooms were on the top (or second) floor. The two elder wives Khairiyyah and Sharifa had their rooms on the first floor.

Like the rest of the rooms of the house they were small and cramped.  But they had apparently sufficed for six years. After the evening meal and prayer, Amal and the Sheikh retired for the night. Shortly after midnight they were awakened by what at first sounded like a storm.

Their three-year-old son, Hussain, was asleep in the room. They went to the balcony to see what was happening. But it was a moonless night and pitch dark.

Amal reached to turn on the light but the Sheikh said “No!” He went to the door to call his son Khalid, who lived on the first floor with his mother Sharifa. Amal went to see her children. She had five children. 

When she returned, the Shaikh’s two daughters Maryam and Sumaiya had come up from their rooms on the first floor. They recited the Kalima (declaration of faith) and verses from the Holy Quaran.

taken downstairs

The Shaikh said American helicopters had arrived and that they should all leave his room immediately. They were unwilling to do so. Maryam and her children went to the balcony. The Shaikh reached for his weapon.

At that moment they heard a blast outside the house. Simultaneously they heard noises, which suggested to her that people might be on the roof. They also heard persons coming to the stairs. Suddenly, Amal saw an American soldier on the landing outside the bedroom aiming his weapon at the Shaikh.  She saw a red beam but heard no sound.

She rushed to the soldier and grappled with him in an attempt to take his weapon from him.  But he screamed “No! No!” and shot her in the knee. She swooned and could not see anything. She could only hear the daughters of OBL being asked the name of the Shaikh.

She recalled that while she lay injured on her bed, the other ladies were taken downstairs. A considerable while later, they heard a loud explosion which shattered the windows. There was silence. That was how Osama Bin Laden (OBL) met his end in Abbotabad around 0050 hours on May 2, 2011, according to his youngest wife,              Amal Ahmad Abdul Tattah-el-Saddah (Umm al-Ibrahim).

Sumayya, one of OBL’s daughters who reportedly also grappled with a US soldier, said she saw one of the helicopters lead from her window and immediately rushed upstairs to her father’s room.

She was not sure whether the US soldiers entered from the roof or from downstairs. Everything happened very rapidly. Although she did not see her father fall, she saw him on the floor. He had been hit in the forehead and she knew he was dead.

 His face was “clear” and recognizable. According to her, blood flowed “backwards over his head.” However because of the dark, she could not see very clearly. The American soldiers asked her to identify the body. She said “my father.”

Her sister Maryam was asked the same question and she replied “Abdulah bin Mohammed.” The soldiers did not understand the reference to the last part of her father’s full name (which was Osama bin Muhammad bin Awad bin Laden).

Sumayya then told Maryam “tell them the truth. They are not Pakistanis!” Finally they told the Americans that the body was that of their father Osama bin Laden. They were then told to stand in a corner. 

When they were later led out of the room, Sumayya looked back and saw her father’s body was gone. According to her, it was less than ten minutes from the time they were awoken by the noise of the helicopters and the killing of their father.

extremely frightened

The eldest of the wives, Khairiyyah said she heard the helicopters and saw one landing from her window. She immediately rushed up to Amal’s room. She heard the voice of American soldiers and saw them wearing masks walking in the courtyard. Khalid asked the ladies to move away from the windows. He had his Kalashnikov and went out of the room. When she returned downstairs, she heard American soldiers inside the house. They forced their way into her room. One of them appeared as frightened as she was.

He “looked as if he had seen a witch.” He searched her roughly and at gunpoint took her to the room where the other ladies and children were huddled together. More American soldiers came and asked whether this was the residence of Osama bin Laden.

Khairiyyah said Khalid was moving between floors from his father’s room upstairs to the ground floor to check on the children of Abrar (bin Laden’s courier) after hearing their screams.

Shortly afterwards, Khairiyya saw her daughters brought downstairs with their hands tied behind them. Sharifa then saw the body of her son, Khalid, lying on the stairs in a pool of blood. She knelt down to kiss his forehead.

Maryam, the wife of Ibrahim (Arar’s brother and bin Laden’s couriers), who lived in the annexe, said she went to bed at 10 pm on the night of the raid. Around midnight she and Ibrahim woke to a noise of magnitude she had never heard before. Her daughter Rahma who was in the next room was extremely frightened.

Ibrahim went to fetch her and tried to calm her and other children. He then received a call on his cell phone and asked if it was his brother Abrar, who along with his wife lived on the ground floor of the main house.

mother don’t die

But there was no answer. Ibrahim shouted on his phone “Abrar I cannot hear you. I am coming.” At that moment, there was a knock on the door and Ibrahim asked in a loud voice, “Is that you Abrar?”  He opened the door.

From outside someone fired at him through the window. He seemed to duck to avoid the bullet. But he had been mortally hit and fell to the ground. As he fell his feet hit the door he had just opened and it closed.

Maryam felt a bullet graze her cheek and teeth and she felt a bullet (the same or another) hit her right shoulder. She fell. One of her younger children rushed to her crying “Mother don’t die. If you die what will we do?”

She heard American soldiers shouting to her to open the door. She told them “You have killed my husband and now only my children and I are in the room.” A soldier shouted in Arabic “If you do not open the door we will blow the house up.” Despite her injuries she managed to drag herself to the door and open it.

The wives, children and grandchildren of OBL, the children of Abrar and the wife and children of Ibrahim survived. OBL, his son Khalid, his couriers i.e brothers Abrar and Ibrahim and Abrar’s wife Bushra were killed.

By the time the wives, children and grandchildren were taken away from the Compound by Pakistani security forces, and Amal was taken to hospital for her wounds to be treated, the Azan for the Fajr prayer could be heard. They were only able to take a few possessions with them. Of their valuables they could find nothing except for two or three gold “biscuits” of ten tolas each.

The Americans had taken away a jewel box with twenty gold biscuits and two gold lockets with emeralds. They also took a purse that contained the will of Osama bin Laden.

Khairiyya had previously read the will but did not wish to divulge the details. She said it was not political and only pertained to personal and family related matters. Other reports suggested that the children should not seek the leadership of Al Qaeda.

The accounts of his wives were largely consistent. According to them, OBL had been living in the house for six years. Asked why OBL had so few clothes considering the length of his stay, they said he was not fond of possessions.

pain in the heart

Before coming to Abbottabad, he had just three pairs of shalwar  kameez for summer and three pairs for winter. In addition he had a black jacket and two sweaters. Asked about the lack of adequate security arrangements, they said OBL trusted in Allah for his protection. According to the wives, only the two brothers — Ibrahim and Abrar — guarded OBL.

When OBL moved about the Compound, he wore a cowboy hat to avoid detection from above. He was concerned about the poplar trees in the perimeter of the compound as they might provide cover for observers. 

He thought of buying them to cut them down. Whenever OBL felt unwell, (unofficial US accounts indicate he suffered from Addison’s disease), he treated himself with traditional Arab medicine (Tibb-i-Nabbawi) and whenever he felt sluggish he would take some chocolate with an apple.

OBL apparently did not discuss political matters with his wives. The older wives were well educated and were said to have post-graduate degrees in Arabic Literature and Islamic Studies. They maintained a very low profile and had not expected an American assault.  Except for the two brothers, no one else entered the main house. 

Khalid, OBL’s son looked after the furnishings inside the house and also the plumbing. Accordingly, there was no need to call in help from outside. Abrar and Ibrahim did the buying of food and provisions. 

They lived extremely frugally. The family of OBL did not mix or socialize with the family of Abrar and Ibrahim. The children did not play together. There was in fact a wall separating them.

The children of OBL family led extremely regimented and secluded lives. OBL personally saw to the religious education of his grandchildren and supervised their playtime, which included cultivating vegetable plots with simple prizes for the best performances.

Abrar and Ibrahim taught their own children who did not go to school.  The brothers did their daily chores and spent the night in the compound.  As mentioned, the exceptions were when they accompanied the womenfolk out of town.  OBL never left the premises.

Occasionally, according to Maryam (Ibrahim’s wife), he complained of the pain in the heart and kidneys. But he never visited a doctor. During their six-year stay in Abbottabad, Maryam never once saw OBL! Khalid occasionally visited a dentist. No visitors came at night. Presumably, she meant no visitors came at all.

Maryam said that only herself. Ibrahim, and Abrar were aware of the identity of Osama bin Laden. According to her, Bushra (Abrar’s wife) never knew that the Sheikh living on the top floor of the main house and had been with them for so many years was Osama bin Laden.

While the children of Ibrahim and Abrar were free to go outside the compound, the children of bin Laden always stayed inside the premises. They were very quiet. Khalid looked after a cow he had bought and Abrar would bring fodder for it. A man who lived close by was hired to plough the field for planting vegetables. He apparently also sold the cow to Khalid bin Laden. But he never met Osama bin Laden or any other member of his family.

Maryam also said once a female nurse came to her house to administer polio drops to her children, but not to the Arab children. She did not recall anyone coming to the house for vaccination.