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Osama Bin Laden Killed: Worldwide Reactions

By Alan Taylor, The Atlantic

Updated: May 2, 2011 | 5:33 a.m.
May 2, 2011 | 3:14 a.m.

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Late Sunday night, President Barack Obama announced that U.S. forces had killed Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden during an operation in Abottabad, Pakistan. Bin Laden reportedly died in a firefight, shot in the head, following which his body was recovered and remains in U.S. custody. Reactions in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere were swift and exuberant. Stay tuned: Further images will be added throughout the day, showing responses to the momentous news from around the world.



Late on Sunday night, May 2nd, 2011, President Barack Obama announced Osama bin Laden had been killed in a military operation. Al Qaeda leader Bin Laden is pictured in this 1998 file photo at a meeting at an undisclosed location in Afghanistan. (AP Photo) View original.

2 President Barack Obama walks through the Cross Hall to the Blue Room to deliver news to the nation that U.S. authorities have recovered the body of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, from the White House in Washington, May 1, 2011. (Reuters/Jason Reed) # View original.




3 President Barack Obama speaks after addressing the nation on TV from the East Room of the White House to make a televised statement May 1, 2011 in Washington, DC. Bin Laden has been killed near Islamabad, Pakistan almost a decade after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 and his body is in possession of the United States. (Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images) # View original.




4 US Marines of Regiment Combat Team 1 (RCT 1) watch TV as President Barack Obama announces the death of Osama Bin Laden, at Camp Dwyer in Helmand Province, on May 2, 2011. US President Barack Obama said on May 1, 2011 that justice had been done after the September 11, 2001 attacks with the death of Osama bin Laden, but warned that Al-Qaeda will still try to attack the US. (BAY ISMOYO/AFP/Getty Images) # View original.




5 Photographers take pictures of U.S. President Barack Obama after he announced live on television the death of Osama bin Laden, from the East Room of the White House in Washington May 1, 2011. Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed on Sunday in a firefight with U.S. forces in Pakistan and his body was recovered, President Barack Obama announced on Sunday. (Reuters/Jason Reed) # View original.




6 President Barack Obama, making a statement on the death of Osama bin Laden, is shown on TVs at an electronics retailer in Tokyo on Monday May 2, 2011. Obama said Osama bin Laden, the glowering mastermind behind the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks that killed thousands of Americans, was killed in an operation led by the United States. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara) # View original.




7 President Barack Obama is seen on a television monitor in the press briefing room as he makes a televised statement on the death of Osama bin Laden from the East Room of the White House in Washington, Sunday, May 1, 2011. (AP Photo/J. David Ake) # View original.




8 President Barack Obama is pictured after announcing live on television the death of Osama bin Laden, from the East Room of the White House in Washington May 1, 2011. (Reuters/Jason Reed) # View original.




9 In this file photo, Osama bin Laden is seen at an undisclosed location in this television image. (AP Photo/Al Jazeera, File) # View original.




10Fans check their cell phones during a baseball game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Mets, Sunday, May 1, 2011, in Philadelphia. News broke during the game that Osama bin Laden had been killed. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum) # View original.




11People cheer and wave U.S. flags outside the White House as President Barack Obama delivers remarks to the nation on the death of Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, in Washington May 1, 2011. (Reuters/Jim Young) # View original.




12Students gather at the fence on the north side of the White House, pose for photographs, chant "U.S.A.! U.S.A.!" and sing the Star Spangled Banner while U.S. President Barack Obama announces the death of Osama Bin Laden during a late evening statement to the press in the East Room of the White House May 1, 2011 in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) # View original.




13Revelers stand on trees outside the gates after U.S. President Barack Obama announced that U.S. authorities have recovered the dead body of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, at the White House in Washington, May 1, 2011. (Reuters/Jonathan Ernst) # View original.




14Crowds gathers outside the White House in Washington early Monday, May 2, 2011, to celebrate after President Barack Obama announced the death of Osama bin Laden. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) # View original.




15People cheer outside the White House over the death of Osama Bin Laden in Washington, May 1, 2011. (Reuters/Jim Young) # View original.




16New York City firefighters gather in Times Square New York May 2, 2011 shortly after the announcement from President Obama about the death of Osama Bin Laden. (TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images) # View original.




17People gather in Times Square may 2, 2011 shortly after the announcement from President Obama. (TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images) # View original.




18David Huber and Nicole Lozare of Arlington, Virginia, pay their respect to victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the early morning of May 2, 2011, after President Barack Obama has announced the death of Osama Bin Laden, at the Pentagon Memorial outside the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. (Alex Wong/Getty Images) # View original.