WASHINGTON, May 3, 2011 – Osama bin Laden was not armed, but did resist an American military team raiding his compound in Pakistan on May 1, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said today.
Initial statements said bin Laden had been armed, and that he used his wife as a shield during the raid that killed him.
The team methodically cleared the one-acre, two-building compound, moving from room to room in an operation lasting nearly 40 minutes, Carney said. \”They were engaged in a firefight throughout the operation, and Osama bin Laden was killed by the assaulting force,\” he added.
On the first floor of bin Laden\’s building, the team killed two al-Qaida couriers. A woman also was killed in crossfire. The team found bin Laden and his family on the second and third floors of the building.
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