Osama bin Laden, the world's most wanted man, is dead, US president Barack Obama has announced.
The man who was the inspiration for countless acts of terror from the September 11 outrage to the July 7 London bombings was killed in a US operation in Pakistan.
He was holed up not in the mountains of Afghanistan but in a two-storey house a stone's throw from a Pakistani army base in Abbottabad, about 50 miles from the capital Islamabad.
David Cameron welcomed the development, saying it would "bring great relief to people across the world". He added: "It is a great success that he has been found and will no longer be able to pursue his campaign of global terror."
Jubilant crowds flocked to the White House and to Ground Zero in New York where the twin towers of the World Trade Centre stood until they were destroyed by two hijacked jets on September 11, 2001.
Relatives of al Qaida victims in the UK also welcomed the news. Nigel Thompson, who worked as a stockbroker with Cantor Fitzgerald in the World Trade Centre, died at the age of 33.
His father Norman, from Sheffield, said: "I'm pleased, definitely. It doesn't bring our son back - we've lost him. People talk of closure. There's no such thing as closure because we have it every day. It's one of those difficult things. It would bring justice, definitely, but certainly no closure. It's an every day trial for us."
Pakistan's High Commissioner in London Wajid Shamsul Hasan insisted that the country's authorities were not aware of bin Laden's presence in Abbottabad prior to the attack. Mr Hasan told BBC Radio 5 Live: "Nobody knew that Osama bin Laden was there - no security agency, no Pakistani authorities knew about it. Had we known it we would have done it ourselves."
Later, two Obama administration officials said DNA evidence has proven that bin Laden is dead, with 99.9% confidence. The officials did not say where or how the testing was done but the test explains why President Obama was confident to announce the death to the world.
Pentagon officials have said the at-sea burial of Osama bin Laden was videotaped and that it probably will be released soon. The officials said photos of the body prior to its disposal in the North Arabian Sea also may be released.
