Cause of death
Osama bin Laden was killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on May 2, 2011, shortly after 1:00 am local time (4:00 pm eastern time) by a United States special forces military unit.
The operation, code-named Operation Neptune Spear, was ordered by United States President Barack Obama and carried out in a U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operation by a team of United States Navy SEALs from the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group (also of the Joint Special Operations Command, with support from CIA operatives on the ground. The raid on bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad was launched from Afghanistan after that U.S. forces had taken bin Laden's body to Afghanistan for identification, then buried it at sea within 24 hours of his death.