In a major development, media reports in United States reported that Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda founder and world's most wanted terrorist, was killed outside a mansion in Abbottabad, 150 kms north of Islamabad, in Pakistan in a `targeted US intelligence operation'.
US authorities are in possession of Laden's body, reports added. President Barack Obama made a statement on the matter.
Laden has been accused as the mastermind of the massive 9/11 terror attacks on New York, which killed 3,000 people, which further sparked American military operations in Afghanistan.
However, Osama evaded the forces of US and its allies for a decade, despite a $25 million bounty on his head.
His death will be seen as a major blow to Al Qaeda but also raises fears of reprisal attacks, BBC reports.
Image: Osama bin Laden