New Details Emerge about Killing of Bin Laden

From NPR

The Operation

Navy SEAL Team 6 used four helicopters to swoop down on the three-story, fortress-like compound early Monday, officials said. A firefight erupted and bin Laden was shot in the head. Several other adults also were killed, including one of the al-Qaida leader’s sons and a woman who reportedly was used as a human shield. One helicopter was lost in the operation due to a mechanical failure and was destroyed by the crew, who flew out in the remaining three choppers along with bin Laden’s remains.

A senior intelligence official told reporters at a Pentagon briefing Monday afternoon that bin Laden’s body was transported to the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson in the north Arabian Sea. It was washed in accordance with Islamic practices and placed in a white sheet and then put in a “weighted bag,” the official said.

A military officer read prepared religious remarks that were translated into Arabic by a “native speaker” who was not further identified by the intelligence official. The body was then placed on a “prepared flat board, tipped up, whereupon the deceased’s body eased into the sea,” the official said.

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