Gunman fired back during bin Laden raid
New details emerge in raid on terrorist leader’s home
WASHINGTON – The Americans who raided Osama bin Laden’s lair met far less resistance than the Obama administration described in the aftermath. The commandos encountered gunshots from only one man, whom they quickly killed, before sweeping the house and shooting others, who were unarmed, a senior defense official said.
In Thursday’s revised telling, the Navy SEALs mounted a precision, floor-by-floor operation to find the al-Qaida leader and his protectors – but without the prolonged and intense firefight that officials had described.
U.S. officials said some of the first information gleaned from the scene indicated that last year al-Qaida was considering attacking U.S. trains on the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. The officials said they had no recent intelligence indicating such a plot was active.
In the administration’s haste to satisfy the world’s hunger for details and eager to make the most of the moment, officials told a tale tarnished by discrepancies and apparent exaggeration. Whether that matters to most Americans, gratified if not joyful that bin Laden is dead, is an open question.
The senior defense official said the sole bin Laden shooter in the Pakistan compound was killed in the early minutes of the commando operation, the latest of the details becoming clearer now that the Navy SEAL assault team has fully briefed officials.
As the raiders moved into the compound from helicopters, they were fired on by bin Laden’s courier, the official said. The SEALs returned fire and the courier was killed, along with a woman with him.
The Americans were never fired on again as they encountered and killed a man on the first floor of the main building and then bin Laden’s son on a staircase, before arriving at bin Laden’s room, the official said, revising an earlier account that the son was in the room with his father.
The raid also scooped up valuable intelligence. A Homeland Security intelligence warning Thursday said that as of February 2010, al-Qaida was considering tampering with an unspecified U.S. rail track.