U.S. Team had 'Kill' Orders for Osama bin Laden, Five Others Dead

A total of six people, including al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, were killed on Sunday by a small U.S. Special Forces team with orders to kill him in an attacked on the suburban compound where he was staying just outside of Pakistan's capital.

This was a kill operation, a U.S. national security official told Reuters in a late morning report. There was no desire to capture bin Laden alive, the report said.

President Barack Obama said late Sunday that bin Laden was killed in a firefight as a U.S. team arrived at the leader's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, a town about 35 miles north of Islamabad, Pakistan.

Senior Obama Administration officials said in a conference call with reporters immediately after Obama's announcement that a total of six people were killed in a helicopter raid on bin Laden's compound about 35 miles outside of Islamabad, Pakistan's capital.

A Senior Obama Administration official said in a conference call with reporters immediately after Obama's announcement late Sunday that three adult males, in addition to Bin Laden were killed in the raid.

We believe two were the couriers and the third was bin Laden's adult son, the official said.

In addition, one woman was killed when she was used as a shield from a male combatant. Two other women were injured, the official said.

The high walls, security features, suburban location, and proximity to Islamabad made this an especially dangerous operation.

This operation was a surgical raid by a small team designed to minimize collateral damage and to pose as little risk as possible to non-combatants on the compound or to Pakistani civilians in the neighborhood, the official said.

The U.S. team was on the compound for less than 40 minutes and did not encounter any local authorities during the raid, according to the official.