UPDATE: A new post: History of Osama Bin Laden’s hideout in aerial and satellite photos
Last night US president Obama announced in a White house address that Osama bin Laden is dead. His death follows a raid launched by US navy seals in Abbottābad, about 35 miles (55 km) north of Islamabad Pakistan. Responsible for the 9/11 attacks on the Twin towers, the leader of al qaeda has been on the run for almost 20 years.
BBC News report Osama’s hide-out as being around 700 yards (800m) from the Pakistan Military Academy, describing it as a 3,000 sq yards (2,508 square m) in area, surrounded by a high wall. The New York Times adds that the building is a…
…large mansion on the outskirts of the town center, set on an imposing hilltop and ringed by 12-foot-high concrete walls topped with barbed wire.
Various other news sources are claiming to have pinpointed Bin Laden’s compound in Google maps, but give differing locations. My hunch is the location shown above. Some photographs of the complex show an electricity pylon nearby which you can see in earlier Google Earth imagery (using the historical time slider). Also the building is new to the latest satellite imagery (dated 2005) matching accounts of its construction date. Ogle Earth came to the same conclusion by comparing the terrain.
Check it out on this interactive map:
View Osama Bin Laden’s Compound in a larger map
Edit: the CIA has confirmed this is the location.
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I cannot believe he was chilling out here for so long and no one noticed!
Unbelievable. Thanks for marking the spot where he was though. Which you could street view it!
What the hell. He was hiding here all this time. 5 minutes from the milatary base??? Burnt his own rubish, no telephone lines or internet connection and no one noticed and no one knew? Yeah right.
I wrote a short post with correct/verified links (as well as images) to Google Map location, White House Press briefing satellite photo and diagram:
http://j.mp/mke9lW
..of Osama Bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
Mark
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