Osama Bin Laden’s wife revealed his final words before being shot by Navy SEAL
A little over 15 years ago, on 2 May, 2011, a compound containing Osama Bin Laden and his family was stormed by US Navy SEALS and the world's most notorious terrorist was shot dead.
His youngest wife, Amal, told the Sunday Times in 2017 how they were woken up by the sound of a helicopter overhead, and then the walls shuddered.
She said that Bin Laden told one of his sons to 'come up' with his gun, and for his wives to go downstairs as 'they want me, not you'.
However, she remained in the room along with their two-year-old son Hussein and they listened to the sounds of the Navy SEALS storming the compound as she realised there was no way out.
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Recounting Bin Laden's final words to her, he told her: "Don’t turn on the light."
It wouldn't have achieved anything anyway, as the Americans had cut the power to the compound in Pakistan where he had been hiding.
It was the last thing he ever said, as shortly afterwards SEALS entered the room and Amal said she rushed the first one before feeling a pain in the leg and collapsing, she had been shot.
The guns were then turned on the world's most wanted terrorist and he was shot dead in his own compound, where his security arrangements meant that while nobody could see in he also couldn't see out.
According to Time, he had money sewn into his clothes and two phones to call for help, but it wouldn't have done anything to help him escape from armed men who finally located him.
The man who claims credit for shooting Bin Laden, Robert J. O'Neill, described coming face to face with America's most wanted.
During an interview in Netflix's American Manhunt: Osama bin Laden, he said: "I turn this way and standing in front of me, two feet away is Osama bin Laden. It was one of those moments in life where things slow down."
O'Neill continued: "He's taller than I thought, he's skinnier than I thought, his beard was grey/white, but I recognised his nose, this is definitely him. He's not surrendering, he's a threat, not only to me but to my entire team, he has to die.
"I can hear bin Laden taking his last breath. When I shot him he fell to the foot of the bed.
“I shot him in the face three times. I moved Amal and… his two-year-old son is now standing there, and this is the humanity of everything.
"This kid has got nothing to do with this. I’m a father. I picked him up and I move them to the back of the bed."
Topics: Osama bin Laden, Terrorism, World News, US News
Joe Harker