All About the Team That Killed Osama: Geronimo E-KIA

It all started in 1980, when the U.S. Army tried to rescue American hostages held captive in Iran. The operation was a total failure, and the need for a special trained force became obvious.

The SEAL Team 6 was started, under the command of Lt Commander Richard Marcinko, as dedicated team for counter terrorism and direct action missions anywhere in the world. The SEAL acronym stands for Sea Air And Land, but they operate mainly in a Maritime environment. The team and its missions are classified, technically they do not exist for the people, details of their missions are rarely present in the news. There are a total of three SEAL teams, but this team was labeled 6 in an attempt to confuse foreign intelligence agencies. Top operatives from other SEAL units have been recruited, trained intensly and used inside Team 6. As they are a top secret unit, do not expecty any names.

Team 6 was definitely involved in the operation that led to the assassination of the terrorist leader, Osama bin Laden, it seems this was a Joint Special Operations Command(JSOC) operation, which also involved rangers and other top flight units dedicated for this type of missions.

The operation started almost one year ago, with close surveillance and planing stages:

- after tracking down Bin Laden's personal courier, in the summer of 2010, U.S. intelligence units reported the presence of the large house in a suburb north of Islamabad at the end of a long dirt road with no phone and no internet;

- in March 2011, after a series of security meetings, President Obama and
along with his staff and heads of intelligence started setting up the
details of the strike;

- after being presented clear evidence that Bin Laden is inside that building, President Obama opted for a terrestrial strike, rather than having the entire building bombed down;

- the raid was intially planned for Saturday but, due to bad weather, it had to be rescheduled;

- Seal Team Six, The United States tier-one counter-terrorism unit, led the assault that hit the compound at 3:30 P.M. The assault lasted almost 40 minutes, and the units were gone by 4:15;

- the operation had been a total success as no American forces were injured during the assault, only one modified MH-60 helicopter has been lost(it costs about $28 million to produce one);

- it seems a bullet hit Bin Laden in the head causing a very deep wound through which his brain could be seen, according to ABC News.

The operation's code name was "Geronimo", when the SEALS broke through, after spotting Osama, they sent back, to the headquarters, the keyword - Geronimo, while after bin Laden was killed, the staff at the headquarters was pleased to hear the message: "Geronimo E-KIA", which translated to "E(nemy) K(illed) I(n) A(ction)", they all knew this meant victory.

The team used light guns like M4 or M16 machine guns, and their close combat pistols, SIG Sauer P226.

 M4 is the shortened version of M16, they are gas-operated, air-cooled, magazine-fed, selective fire, shoulder-fired weapons with a telescoping stock, the selective fire options include semi-automatic and three-round burst (like the M16A2).

Osama bin Laden Killed by U.S. Navy Seals

Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces, along with one of his sons and his most trusted courier, Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti; and al-Kuwaiti's wife and brother. Taliban leader died in Pakistan after an attack by U.S. troops. His dead body is in possession of the United States government. "This is a historic day for the American people," said President Barack Obama.

Obama said that the military operation took place in Pakistan, he also said that he knew since August that the U.S. forces have a possible trail to bin Laden's hideout in Pakistan.

U.S. forces have worked closely with the Pakistan secret services in order to locate bin Laden's hideout. The 3 floors building in Abbotabad, where Osama was hiding, is 62 miles away from Pakistan capital, Islamabad.  Osama tried to fight back but he was killed in the shootings. Four other people were killed, one of Osama's sons, Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, his most trusted courier, and al-Kuwaiti's wife and brother. Two other women were injured during the operation.

Even though it was clear for the members of the commando that their victim was Osamba bin Laden, face recognition techniques have been used in order to confirm the identity of the victim. Other than the already used techniques, U.S. government will use DNA testing to provide the identity of the body. As usual, reactions of the terrorists are expected as to provide video/audio recordings to claim the bin Laden is still alive.

The facial recognition operation is usually completed by a automated machine equipped with high quality video device that is able to compare acquired pictures of video frames with a set of images already stored in a data base. The traditional method identifies faces by extracting landmarks, or features, from an image of the subject's face, an algorithm may analyze the relative position, size, and/or shape of the eyes, nose, cheekbones, and jaw. Face recognition can be also done by 3-D analysis or by matching skin textures.

 A picture, possible proof of Osama's death is already available on the internet. It is possible to be a fake, as people tend to do this often, the same thing happen when another Al Qaeda's leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, death was announced.
The picture is trending on Twitter and it is available probably on all the other social networking platforms, like Facebook, MySpace etc.

Pakistani television, GEO TV claims that the building in Abbotabad is on fire now, and shows a video that is supposedly of the burning building:

In a written statement given to the press, former U.S President, George W. Bush said President Barack Obama called on Sunday evening to announce the killing of the terrorist leader. Bush also added that: "This momentous achievement marks a victory for America, for people who seek peace around the world, and for all those who lost loved ones on September 11, 2001".

The United States government warned U.S. citizens abroad the risk of "anti-American violence" after the announcement of the death of Osama bin Laden, following the operation in Pakistan.

The killing of terrorist leader, Osama bin Laden, had a special impact for Oscar-winning director, Kathryn Bigelow, as she was already working on a movie, possibly called "Kill bin Laden", about the assassination of bin Laden. Their plan for the movie was that failed mission of a U.S. commando that were targeting to capture the Al Qaeda leader.  Now, their best bet is to get as much as possible information from the inside of the successful operation and rewrite the the script.