World on alert after US kills bin Laden
2011-05-02 23:01
Washington/Abbottabad - World leaders warned of revenge attacks after Osama bin Laden was killed in a US assault in Pakistan on Monday that brought to a dramatic end the long manhunt for the al-Qaeda leader who had become the most powerful symbol of Islamist militancy.
Obama hailed bin Laden's death, saying on Monday: "The world is safer. It is a better place because of the death of Osama bin Laden."
But the euphoria that drew flag-waving crowds to "Ground Zero" of the New York attacks the Saudi-born militant masterminded a decade ago was tempered by calls for vigilance against retaliation by his followers.
Warnings of revenge
Vows to avenge his death appeared quickly in Islamist militant forums, a key means of passing on information from al-Qaeda leaders.
"God's revenge on you, you Roman dog, God's revenge on you crusaders... this is a tragedy brothers, a tragedy," one forum member wrote.
Bin Laden was quickly buried at sea after Muslim funeral rites, his shrouded body placed in a weighted bag and tipped from the deck of a US aircraft carrier into the North Arabian Sea, US officials said.
The death of bin Laden, who achieved near-mythic status for his ability to elude capture for more than a decade, closes a bitter chapter in the global fight against al-Qaeda, but it does not eliminate the threat of further strikes.
Global infamy
Under bin Laden's leadership, al-Qaeda militants struck targets from the Indonesian island of Bali to the European capitals of Madrid and London as well as the east African nations of Kenya and Tanzania.
But it was the September 11 2001, attacks, in which al-Qaeda militants used hijacked planes to strike at economic and military symbols of American might and killed nearly 3 000 people, that helped bin Laden achieve global infamy.
Those attacks spawned two wars, in Afghanistan and Iraq, inflicted damage on US ties with the Muslim world that have yet to be repaired, and redefined security for air travellers.
"Even as we mark this milestone, we should not forget that the battle to stop al-Qaeda and its syndicate of terror will not end with the death of bin Laden," US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said just hours after bin Laden was killed with a bullet in the head at his Pakistani compound and quickly buried at sea.