Osama bin Laden's compound, known locally as the Waziristan Haveli (), was a large, upper-class house within a walled compound used as a
safe house for militant leader
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden (10 March 19572 May 2011) was a militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, Bin Laden participated in the Afghan ''mujahideen'' against the Soviet Union, and support ...
, who was
shot and killed there by U.S. forces on 2 May 2011. The compound was located at the end of a dirt road southwest of the
Pakistan Military Academy
Pakistan Military Academy (PMA) is a military academy located nearby Kakul village in Abbottabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Established in October 1947, it is the only service academy in Pakistan that trains cadets to serve as army of ...
in
Bilal Town
Bilal Town is a wealthy northeastern suburb of Abbottabad, Pakistan. It lies between central Abbottabad and Kakul, where the Pakistan Military Academy is located. The upper-class neighborhood contains some large houses and open fields and has a hig ...
,
Abbottabad,
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ; , ; abbr. KP or KPK), formerly known as the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Northern Pakistan, northwestern region of the country, Khyber ...
,
Pakistan
Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
, a suburb housing many retired military officers. Bin Laden was reported to have evaded capture by living in a section of the house for at least five years, having no Internet or phone connection, and hiding away from the public, who were unaware of his presence.
Completed in 2005, the main buildings in the compound lay on a plot of land, much larger than those of nearby houses. Around its perimeter ran concrete walls topped with barbed wire, and there were two security gates. The compound had very few windows. Little more than five years old, the compound's ramshackle buildings were badly in need of repainting. The grounds contained a well-kept vegetable garden, rabbits, some 100 chickens, and a cow. The house itself did not stand out architecturally from others in the neighbourhood, except for its size and exaggerated security measures; for example, the third-floor balcony had a privacy wall. Photographs inside the house showed excessive clutter and modest furnishings. After the American mission, there was extensive interest in and reporting about the compound and its design. To date, the Pakistani government has not responded to any allegations as to who had built the structure.
After the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
in 2001, the U.S.
searched for bin Laden for nearly 10 years. By tracking his courier
Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti to the compound, U.S. officials surmised that bin Laden was hiding there. During
a raid on 2 May 2011, 24 members of the
United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group arrived by helicopter, breached a wall using explosives, and entered the compound in search of bin Laden. After the operation was completed and bin Laden was killed, Pakistan demolished the structure in February 2012.
Architecture

In the urban setting, the architecture of the bin Laden hideout was described by an architect as "surprisingly permanent – and surprisingly urban" and "sure to join
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until Saddam Hussein statue destruction, his overthrow in 2003 during the 2003 invasion of Ira ...
's last known address among the most notorious examples of hideout architecture in recent memory". The compound was fortified with many safeguard features intended to confuse would-be invaders, and U.S. officials described the compound as "extraordinarily unique".
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City.
Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
identified the owner as
Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, who purchased the vacant land for the complex in 2004 and four adjoining lots between 2004 and 2005 for the equivalent of US$48,000.
Constructed between 2003 and 2005, the three-story structure was located on a dirt road
northeast of the city centre of
Abbottābad. The local architect for the project said it was only built and planned for a two-story structure and that the third floor (where bin Laden lived) was built afterwards in an illegal construction.
While the compound was assessed by U.S. officials at a value of 1 million,
local real estate agents assess the property value at 250,000. Intelligence reports indicated that bin Laden may have moved into the complex on 6 January 2006.
On a plot of land much larger than those of nearby houses, it was surrounded by
concrete walls topped with barbed wire.
Apart from its size, it did not stand out from others in the neighborhood
and it was difficult to see from a distance.
The compound walls were higher than usual in the neighbourhood, although nearly all houses in Bilal Town have barbed wire.
[ There were no phones or Internet wires running into the compound. Security cameras were found, and aerial photographs showed several satellite dishes.][ There were two security gates and the third-floor balcony had a privacy wall. The compound measured in size, and had relatively few windows.]
The compound was known as Waziristan Haveli () by the local residents. The compound's casual name referred to Waziristan
Waziristan (Persian language, Persian, Pashto, Ormuri, , ) is a mountainous region of the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Waziristan region administratively splits among three districts: North Waziristan, Lower South Waziristan Dis ...
, a region in Pakistan, and a '' haveli'', which means "mansion
A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word ''manse'' originally defined a property l ...
". It was owned by a transporter from Waziristan; bin Laden previously spent time in the Waziristan area of Pakistan.
Furnishings
The house where the bin Laden family lived on the two upper floors was large and modestly furnished. It had "cheap foam mattresses, no air conditioning (but central heating) and old televisions." Several of the bedrooms had an attached kitchen and a bathroom. One of the first floor rooms was furnished with a whiteboard, markers and textbooks, to serve as a classroom for the children in the house, who were home-schooled in Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
.
Food
The self-described brothers of the house known to the neighbours would frequently visit the local shops. They would buy enough food to feed ten people, and purchased "the best brands— Nestle milk, the good-quality soaps and shampoos", Pepsi
Pepsi is a Carbonated water, carbonated soft drink with a cola flavor, manufactured by PepsiCo which serves as its flagship product. In 2023, Pepsi was the second most valuable soft drink brand worldwide behind Coca-Cola; the two share a long ...
and Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...
. The food found at the house by the Pakistani authorities was basic, such as dates, nuts, eggs, olive oil and dried meat. The brothers would visit Rasheed's corner store, about a minute's walk from the house, with young children for whom they bought sweets and soft drinks. They also purchased bread from a local bakery.
Rabbits, 100 chickens and a cow were reared on the compound grounds. A vegetable garden at the back of the house was well-kept, and Shamraiz, a neighbouring farmer, was paid to plant vegetables about twice a year. Days before the May 2011 raid, Shamraiz was called to plough additional ground in the compound using a tractor. He never went inside the house itself.
The compound had an adjacent grazing area that hosted cows and a buffalo as well as a deep water well, possibly allowing it a water supply separate from the local municipality. There was a small garden on the north side of the house that included poplar trees.[Behind High Walls, Model Neighbors Were Harboring a Fugitive](_blank)
/ref> A farmer's field growing cabbages and potatoes surrounded the compound on three sides, and wild cannabis
''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae that is widely accepted as being indigenous to and originating from the continent of Asia. However, the number of species is disputed, with as many as three species be ...
plants grew up to the side of the compound.[
]
CIA cache of computer files
In November 2017, the CIA publicly released the contents of a cache of nearly 470,000 computer files (with a total size of 258 gigabytes) discovered on 183 separate devices during the Abbottabad Compound raid (that resulted in bin Laden's death) by Navy SEALs
The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the United States Navy's primary special operations force and a component of the United States Naval Special Warfare Command. Among the SEALs' main funct ...
, giving the world a glimpse into the home life of bin Laden, his family, and his closest allies.
Among the files discovered were a diary of bin Laden's movements and thoughts regarding the state of al-Qaeda, several videos of beheadings, a 19-page report about al-Qaeda's links to Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
, and a video of Osama bin Laden's son, Hamza, at his wedding (the first images of Hamza since his childhood). There were a number of US-produced documentaries about Bin Laden, including Morgan Spurlock's '' Where in the World is Osama bin Laden?'' and CNN's ''In the Footsteps of bin Laden''.
The cache also included typical internet-browsing and pirated content, including home videos, cat videos, clip art, a video called "HORSE_DANCE", wildlife documentaries, a copy of Charlie Bit My Finger, the animated films '' Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs'' and ''Antz
''Antz'' is a 1998 American animated adventure comedy film directed by Eric Darnell and Tim Johnson from a screenplay written by Todd Alcott and the writing team of Chris and Paul Weitz. It was produced by DreamWorks Pictures, DreamWorks An ...
'', an episode of Mr. Bean, episodes of '' Jackie Chan Adventures'', ''Tom and Jerry
''Tom and Jerry'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated media franchise and series of comedy short films created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Best known for its 161 theatrical short films by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the series ...
'', and ''Case Closed
''Case Closed'', also known as , is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Gosho Aoyama. It has been serialized in Shogakukan's manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' since January 1994; its chapters are collected in 10 ...
'', and copies of the video games '' Final Fantasy VII'', ''Devil May Cry
is a science fantasy action-adventure game franchise created by Hideki Kamiya. It is primarily developed and published by Capcom. The series centers on the demon hunter Dante (Devil May Cry), Dante and his efforts to thwart various demon invas ...
'', ''Counter-Strike
''Counter-Strike'' (''CS'') is a series of multiplayer tactical first-person shooter video games, in which opposing teams attempt to complete various objectives. The series began on Windows in 1999 with the release of the first game, '' Counte ...
'', ''Half-Life Half-life is a mathematical and scientific description of exponential or gradual decay.
Half-life, half life or halflife may also refer to:
Film
* Half-Life (film), ''Half-Life'' (film), a 2008 independent film by Jennifer Phang
* ''Half Life: ...
'', and '' Resident Evil 2''. However, the files may have come from other residents of the compound (of which there were believed to be 20) as well as older users as it is believed that some of the computers on the compound were purchased as used products, and not necessarily bin Laden. There were also, reportedly, several pornographic video games and videos, although the CIA has not released specifics and withheld certain titles, citing copyright concerns.
History
''Gulf News
''Gulf News'' is a daily English language newspaper published from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. First launched in 1978, it is distributed throughout the UAE and also in other Persian Gulf countries. Its online edition was launched in 1996. Thro ...
'' reported that it had previously been used as a safe house by Inter-Services Intelligence
The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is the premier Pakistani Intelligence community, intelligence agency of Pakistan. It is responsible for gathering, processing, and analyzing any information from around the world that is deemed relevant t ...
, but was no longer being used for this purpose. ISI alleged that this compound was raided in 2003 while under construction as Abu Faraj al-Libbi was suspected of living there. However, satellite photos show that in 2004 the site was an empty field. The compound was believed to be built around the summer of 2005 to late 2006, based on local accounts, most likely completed in late 2005 as intelligence reports indicate Bin Laden may have moved into the house on 6 January 2006.
American intelligence officials discovered bin Laden's whereabouts by tracking one of his couriers, Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti. Information was collected from Guantánamo Bay
Guantánamo Bay (, ) is a bay in Guantánamo Province at the southeastern end of Cuba. It is the largest harbor on the south side of the island and it is surrounded by steep hills which create an enclave that is cut off from its immediate hint ...
detainees who gave intelligence officers al-Kuwaiti's pseudonym and said that he was a protégé of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (sometimes also spelled Shaykh; also known by at least 50 pseudonyms; born 14 April 1965), often known by his initials KSM, is a terrorist, and the former head of propaganda for the pan-Islamist militant group al-Qaeda. He ...
. In 2007, U.S. officials discovered the courier's real name, and, in 2009, that he lived in Abbottābad. Using satellite photos and intelligence reports, the CIA surveilled the inhabitants of the compound. In September, the CIA concluded that the compound was "custom built to hide someone of significance" and that it was very likely that bin Laden was residing there. Officials surmised that he was living there with his youngest wife. U.S. Intelligence estimates that bin Laden lived in the compound for five or six years. Bin Laden's wife confirmed to the Pakistani authorities that they had lived in the compound for five years. Prior to moving to the compound, they lived in the village of Chak Shah Muhammad, in the nearby Haripur District
Haripur District (Hindko, ) is a district in the Hazara Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Before obtaining the status of a district in 1991, Haripur was a tehsil of Abbottabad District Its headquarters are the city of Haripur. Accor ...
, for nearly two and a half years.
Operation Neptune Spear
Osama bin Laden was killed in Waziristan Haveli on 2 May 2011, shortly after 01:00 local time, by the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group.
Encounters between the SEALs and the residents took place in the guest house, in the main building on the first floor where two adult males lived, and on the second and third floors where bin Laden lived with his family.[
* ]
The operation, code-named ''Operation Neptune Spear'', was ordered by United States President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film and television
*'' Præsident ...
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
and carried out in a U.S. Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...
(CIA) operation by a team of United States Navy SEALs
The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the United States Navy's primary special operations force and a component of the United States Naval Special Warfare Command. Among the SEALs' main func ...
from the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group (informally known as DEVGRU or by its former name SEAL Team Six) of the Joint Special Operations Command in conjunction with CIA officers. The raid on the compound was launched from Afghanistan. After the raid, U.S. forces took bin Laden's body to Afghanistan for identification, then buried it at sea within 24 hours of his death.
After the event
Following the raid, the former hideout was placed under the security control of the Pakistan Police. Days after the raid, police allowed reporters and locals to approach the walls of the compound, but kept the doors sealed shut. There was intense media interest in the architecture of the compound. The construction included highly fortified walls made of concrete blocks with three gates, separating the building from the large courtyard and a garden planted with immature fruit trees in front of a collapsed wall.
Pakistan security agencies demolished the compound in February 2012 to prevent Mujahedeen from memorializing it.[ In February 2013, Pakistan announced plans to build a R265 million ($2.7M) ]amusement park
An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, and events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central theme, often fea ...
in the area, including the property of the former hideout.
Local residents
Locals disclosed details about their interactions with the residents of the compound to an AP journalist in Pakistan. A woman who distributed polio vaccine
Polio vaccines are vaccines used to prevent poliomyelitis (polio). Two types are used: an inactivated vaccine, inactivated poliovirus given by injection (IPV) and a attenuated vaccine, weakened poliovirus given by mouth (OPV). The World Healt ...
s to the compound said she saw expensive SUVs parked inside. The men received the vaccine and instructed her to leave. A woman in her 70s said one of the men from the hideaway gave her a ride to the market in rainy weather. Her grandchildren played with the children living in the house, and received rabbits as presents. One farmer said, "People were skeptical in this neighborhood about this place and these guys. They used to gossip, say they were smuggler
Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. More broadly, soc ...
s or drug dealer
A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalation, injection, smoking, ingestio ...
s. People would complain that even with such a big house they didn't invite the poor or distribute charity." Present at some neighborhood funerals, two men from the compound were "tall, fair skinned and bearded" and self-identified as cousins from elsewhere in the region. Neighbors said that if a child's ball went over the fence, the men in the compound did not return that ball; instead they paid the child 100–150 rupees (about US$0.60–$0.90), many times its value.
See also
* Osama bin Laden's house in Khartoum
* Manhunt for Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden, the founder and former leader of Al-Qaeda, went into hiding following the start of the War in Afghanistan in order to avoid capture by the United States for his role in the September 11 attacks, and having been on the FBI Ten ...
References
External links
Zero Dark Thirty 3D
a computerized rendition of the compound's exterior
Video inside the compound and house
Letters from Abbottabad
Original
an
translation
archived on 3 May 2012.
Inside the Situation Room: Obama on making OBL raid decision
-a documentary behind the raid
{{Osama bin Laden
Al-Qaeda safe houses
Houses completed in 2005
Buildings and structures demolished in 2012
Buildings and structures in Abbottabad
Demolished buildings and structures in Pakistan
Compound in Abbottabad
Houses in Pakistan
Compound in Abbottabad
Secret places
Safe houses in Pakistan
Abbottabad District
2005 establishments in Pakistan
2012 disestablishments in Pakistan