Palestinian rivals Hamas and Fatah sign reconciliation deal

President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal announce end to four years of division in pact brokered by Egypt

guardian.co.uk, Agencies in Cairo, Wednesday 4 May 2011

Palestinians celebrate the Hamas-Fatah reconciliation agreement in Gaza City.
Photograph: Suhaib Salem/Reuters

The rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas have signed a landmark reconciliation pact aimed at ending their bitter four-year rift.

A ceremony marking the deal, which was mediated by Egypt, took place on Wednesday at the Egyptian intelligence headquarters in Cairo.

Speaking at the ceremony, the Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said his faction was "ready to pay any price" for reconciliation among Palestinians, the Arabic satellite channel al-Arabiya reported.

The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, said the accord ended "four black years" that hurt national Palestinian interests. He also said at the ceremony that he would soon visit the Hamas-held Gaza Strip.

"We announce to Palestinians that we turn forever the black page of division," he said.

The pact provides for the creation of a joint caretaker Palestinian government before national elections next year.

Critics have cast doubt on the durability of the Egyptian-brokered accord, which has been denounced by Israel.

The deal calls for the formation of an interim government to run the occupied West Bank, where Abbas is based, and Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and prepare for parliamentary and presidential elections within a year.

Palestinians see this reconciliation as crucial for their drive to establish an independent state in the territories captured by Israel in the 1967 war.

Abbas said in his opening address: "We announce the good news from Egypt which has always carried its national and historical responsibility towards the Palestinian people. Four black years have affected the interests of Palestinians. Now we meet to assert a unified will."

The ceremony was briefly delayed by a disagreement over protocol. Palestinian sources said the dispute was over whether Meshaal should sit on the podium with Abbas or among other Palestinian delegates in the hall.

At the ceremony, Abbas was initially on the podium to give his speech, and then Meshaal took the podium for his address.

"This is an historical moment documenting the real will of the Palestinian people. The people have taken a step to retrieve its unity," said the Egyptian intelligence chief Murad Muwafi.

Shortly before the ceremony, the senior Fatah official Nabil Shaath said: "The signing has been done. Everyone signed. Today is the crowning of this achievement."

A spokesman for Abbas, Nabil Abu Rdainah, said the deal was signed on behalf of Fatah by Azzam al-Ahmad and for Hamas by Mousa Abu Marzouk. It was not immediately clear why Meshaal and Abbas did not put their own signatures to the deal.

Palestinian officials said the ceremony was a "celebration". In Hamas-controlled Gaza, university students distributed sweets, sang and rallied to mark the deal.

"We are celebrating the achievement of this victory to end divisions and send a message to the Israeli occupation that your threats will not deter us from achieving reconciliation," said Ahmed Abu Arar, who was among those rallying.

The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has denounced the deal and stopped transferring Palestinian tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority, saying Fatah must choose between Israel and the Islamist group that he says is an enemy of peace.

The United States has reacted coolly to the reconciliation accord. A state department spokesman said the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, spoke to Netanyahu and the Palestinian prime minister, Salam Fayyad, on Monday about the deal.

Spokesman Mark Toner told a news briefing in Washington that the United States would look at the formation of any new Palestinian government before taking steps on future aid.

"If and when a new Palestinian government is announced, we'll assess that based on its composition," Toner said. "Hamas needs to abide by the Quartet principles in order to play a role in the political process."

Egypt has set up a committee to oversee implementation of the accord. The ceremony was attended by representatives from the Arab League, Qatar, Oman and Arab members of the Israeli parliament.

"The Arab League will have a role in the follow-up with the Palestinians on the reconciliation process to ensure the process unfolds in due course," the league's spokesman Hisham Youssef said.

Related Articles:

Hamas and Fatah sign unity deal (Video)

Palestinians say end division at Cairo ceremony

ICC prosecutor says grounds to charge Libyan forces

BBC News, by Barbara Plett, BBC UN correspondent, 4 May 2011

Libya Crisis

• Backfiring tactics?
• Tripoli witness: Dying for fuel
• The Gaddafi story
• Gaddafi's bolt-hole

The chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court has said there are reasonable grounds to charge forces loyal to Libya's Col Muammar Gaddafi with crimes against humanity.

Mr Ocampo says there is reason to believe 500-700
Libyan protesters were killed in February alone

In a report, Luis Moreno-Ocampo said charges could include murder, unlawful detention, torture and persecution.

Mr Ocampo said shooting at peaceful protesters by security forces had been systematic.

Col Gaddafi has been fighting an anti-government uprising for two months.

The prosecutor, who was authorised by the UN Security Council to investigate alleged abuses in Libya, noted there were credible estimates of between 500 and 700 people killed in February alone.

'Few people at the top'

He said he plans to submit his first application for arrest warrants in the next few weeks.

The warrants will apparently focus on the initial clampdown against protesters, but it does not reveal who he plans to indict.

The report noted that these alleged crimes are said to be committed on the instructions of only a few people at the top, raising the prospect that Col Gaddafi and members of his inner circle may be charged.

Mr Ocampo said there is also relevant information that war crimes were committed once the situation developed into armed conflict, such as intentional attacks against non-combatants and the apparent use of cluster bombs.

The prosecutor's office is also continuing investigations into serious allegations of rape, and reports that angry mobs in the rebel-held Libyan city of Benghazi killed dozens of Africans thought to be mercenaries.

Turkey urges Gaddafi to leave power

English.news.cn 2011-05-04

ISTANBUL, May 3 (Xinhua) -- Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday urged Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to step down and leave Libya.

"Muammar Gaddafi should take this historic step for Libya's territorial integrity and peace," Erdogan said at a press conference in Istanbul.

"A new term has begun in Libya's history. The words are over in the Libyan issue. What needs to be done at this point is that the Libyan leader pulls out from Libya and cedes power immediately," he said.

Erdogan's statement came a day after Turkey closed its embassy in Tripoli due to growing insecurity in the Libyan capital following the killing of Gaddafi's son and three grandchildren.

"Under current conditions, the best way is to return power to its genuine owners, the Libyan people. Libya is not the property of a single man or one family," Erdogan said.

He signaled that security could be provided to Gaddafi in a host country if he would take "this historic step."

"The grief of losing a child and grandchildren is most painful. We know Gaddafi is suffering this pain. We want to remind him that it is inevitable for him to take this step for Libyan people not to suffer the same pains," he said.

Describing the period which Libya is passing through as "very difficult", Erdogan said Turkey would continue to contribute to the Libyan people.

Appealing to the Libyan opposition, he said: "It is vital that your struggle, your suffering result in an outcome that would embrace the whole Libyan people."

Describing Turkey's stance on Libya as "humanitarian," Erdogan said Turkey was perfectly aware that some countries launched a smear campaign against Turkey that caused a misperception of the Turkish role among the rebels. "A kind of campaign was launched against Turkey in Libya which aimed at causing indignation among the dissidents through misinformation on Turkey's policies," he said.

"However, Turkey did not lose its cool-headedness and continued to follow a stable and consistent policy," he added.

Editor: yan

Related Article:

UN presses Libya on detained journalists, civilians

Syria protesters call for sit-ins, EU mulls sanctions

Google/AFP, May 3, 2011

DAMASCUS — Anti-regime protesters called for permanent sit-ins from Tuesday in Syria where more than 1,000 people were reportedly arrested as the European Union fine-tuned new sanctions against Syria.

The European Union is also
 preparing a raft of sanctions on Syria,
following the brutal crackdown on the
protesters

France said sanctions being discussed by the European Union should target Syrian President Bashar al-Assad while Washington condemned "barbaric" measures against anti-regime demonstrators.

Amnesty International meanwhile released a statement on "first-hand reports of torture" from detainees held in Syria.

As a wave of arrests intensified, a Facebook post by the Syrian Revolution 2011 website urged "Syrians in all regions to gather from Tuesday evening in all public places to organise sit-ins" round the clock.

The National Organisation for Human Rights in Syria said more than 1,000 people had been arrested in two days.

"There has been an insane intensification of arrests in towns. The authorities are arresting anyone who wants to demonstrate, especially writers, intellectuals and activists known to be demanding reform," it said.

Amnesty also said a "wave of arrests of anti-government protesters intensified over the weekend."

"Detainees who were recently released told the organisation of beatings and harsh conditions in detention, raising fears for the safety of hundreds of others being held, including at least 499 people who were arrested on Sunday in house-to-house raids in the southern town of Daraa," said Amnesty.

"The use of unwarranted lethal force, arbitrary detention and torture appear to be the desperate actions of a government that is intolerant of dissent and must be halted immediately," said Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa deputy director Philip Luther.

The United States denounced measures used by Syria to put down seven weeks of anti-regime protests.

"These are quite frankly barbaric measures and they amount to the collective punishment of innocent civilians," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said in Washington.

He spoke specifically about Daraa, the epicentre of the protest movement launched March 15, which has been sealed by the army since April 25 when up to 5,000 troops backed by tanks rolled into the town.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Assad's government is losing legitimacy and EU sanctions should target the Syrian president.

Asked whether France wanted Assad to be specifically named in the measures being discussed in Brussels, Alain Juppe told reporters: "France wishes so."

"A government that kills its citizens because its citizens want to express themselves and install a real democracy loses its legitimacy," he said.

President Nicolas Sarkozy also told L'Express magazine: "For Syria we are going to push for the adoption of the harshest possible sanctions."

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak also predicted that Assad's "brutality" towards the protesters will lead to the downfall of his regime.

The European Union on Friday launched preparations for an embargo on the sale to Syria of weapons and equipment that might be used for internal repression. Advisers met on Monday and Tuesday to fine-tune the sanctions.

But diplomats told AFP that while there was general agreement on slapping an arms embargo on Syria, there were divisions concerning targeted measures against Syrian officials.

Washington last week froze the assets of top officials, including Assad's brother Maher who commands the feared Fourth Armoured Division.

On the ground some 3,000 people demonstrated in the northern port and oil terminal of Banias, another centre for protests against Assad's government, demanding the lifting of the siege of Daraa an activist said.

Activists posted footage on YouTube of protests in Homs and in the Midan district of Damascus. "No to violence, no to sabotage, no to unemployment" read a banner at one demonstration in the Bab Sbaa quarter of Homs.

Protests also took place in Hama and in the Jassem area near Daraa.

"Important arrests in Daraa today (Tuesday) and yesterday according to lists: people aged between 18 and 40 interrogated in a Daraa stadium, at least 1,000 detained," a human rights activist in Damascus said.

Daraa was reported to have water and electricity again on Tuesday, except for the Al-Omari mosque area which was the scene of clashes.

The army said it had entered Daraa last week at the request of residents to rid them of "terrorist gangs" responsible for a spate of "killings and vandalism."

The international Red Cross urged Syria to lift restrictions on access to casualties in Daraa.

"The violence has resulted in a large number of casualties and we fear that if the situation worsens more lives will be lost," said Marianne Gasser, head of the ICRC delegation in Damascus.

Meanwhile, the International Crisis Group warned that Syria was "quickly going beyond the point of no return.

"By denouncing all forms of protest as sedition, and dealing with them through escalating violence, the regime is closing the door on any possible honourable exit to a deepening national crisis," the think-tank said in a report on Tuesday.

The interior ministry announced Monday a 15-day deadline for people who had committed "unlawful acts" to give themselves up and urged Syrians to "supply information about saboteurs, terrorists and arms caches."

Assad's government has persistently blamed the violence on "armed criminal gangs" and has portrayed the protest movement as a conspiracy.

The Insan human rights groups said the civilian death toll from the unprecedented demonstrations in Syria has topped 607.

UN presses Libya on detained journalists, civilians

Reuters Africa, By Stephanie Nebehay, Tue May 3, 2011

GENEVA (Reuters) - A U.N. team investigating human rights violations has asked authorities in Tripoli to look into the fate of 18 Libyan and foreign journalists and pressed them about 86 detained protesters, a statement said on Tuesday.

A poster of Libya"s leader Muammar
Gaddafi is seen outside the door
of the U.N. office in Tripoli March
18, 2011. (REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah)

The team, led by Egyptian-born war crimes expert Cherif Bassiouni, gathered testimony in hospitals, detention centres and at the scene of incidents.

The three investigators met Justice Minister Muhammad Umuhammad al-Qamodi, and interviewed civilians held at Jdeida prison in Tripoli since their arrest in February and March. The statement said it sought their release on humanitarian grounds.

"The authorities promised to look into that matter with a view to release them in the coming days," it added.

"The Commission also raised the case of Ms. Eman al-Obeidi, requesting that she be given permission to leave the country," it said, referring to a Libyan woman who told reporters in March that pro-government militiamen had gang-raped her.

She was whisked away from a Tripoli hotel at the time, but Libyan authorities have said since then that she is not in custody. She is believed to be staying at an undisclosed location for security reasons, U.N. sources said.

The three independent experts, who also went to refugee camps in Egypt and Tunisia during a three-week mission that ended last Friday, is to report its findings to the Human Rights Council in mid-June.

The United Nations, Western powers and some Arab states accuse Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi of ordering his security forces to kill hundreds of civilians who rose up in protest against his four-decade rule.

Libyan offiicals have denied killing civilians, saying security forces were forced to act against armed gangs and al Qaeda sympathisers who, they say, are trying to seize control of the oil exporting power.

Libyan government officials and the National Transitional Council cooperated with the experts who went to Tripoli and the town of Zawiyah, now back in government hands, as well as rebel-held Benghazi, Tobruk and Al Bayda, the statement said.

The International Commission of Inquiry, as it is formally known, "has also visited the sites of incidents, hospitals and detention centres", the U.N. statement said.

Fighting between rebels and forces loyal to Gaddafi is forcing thoustands of refugees to flee western Libya on foot to the Tunisian border and by boat to Europe, the United Nations said on Tuesday.

The experts visited Benghazi medical centre and Al Jalaa hospital where they interviewed more than 30 patients wounded in the fighting. They also interviewed prisoners at Benghazi detention centre, including soldiers from the Libyan army and alleged mercenaries, according to the statement.

"The Commission reminded the authorities of the need to treat all detainees in accordance with international standards."

The experts have previously said they would probe alleged human rights violations committed by all sides in the conflict and share evidence with the U.N. war crimes tribunal in the Hague.

Related Article:

Media group calls 4 Mideast chiefs press predators

Media group calls 4 Mideast chiefs press predators

The Jakarta Post, Associated Press, Wed, 05/04/2011

The presidents of Syria and Yemen had prominent spots on a list of press freedom "predators" issued Tuesday by media advocacy group Reporters Without Borders, along with a new arrival, the king of Bahrain.

The Paris-based group says its 2011 list is made up of 38 politicians, government officials, religious leaders, militias and criminal organizations that are hostile to civil liberties and direct organizers of campaigns of violence against journalists.

Newcomers to the annual list, released on World Press Freedom Day, include Bahrain's King Hamad Ben Aissa Al Khalifa and Honduran businessman and landowner Miguel Facusse Barjum.

Syria, Bahrain, Libya and Yemen have seen numerous cases of arbitrary detention and deportation of foreign correspondents, whom authorities are attempting to prevent from reporting on repression there, the group said.

All four of these countries have also seen journalists murdered by authorities, including Mahamed Al-Nabous, shot by government snipers in the Libyan city of Benghazi on March 19, and two journalists directly targeted by Yemeni security forces on March 18, the group said.

Reporters Without Borders said threats and physical attacks against journalists had increased in Syria since since a protest movement began in mid-March 2011.

Others on the advocacy group's list include Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Chinese President Hu Jintao.

The group also labeled as "press predators" the Israel Defence Forces and the security forces of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, as well as organized crime syndicates in Italy and Mexico.

Tunisia, where the press was muzzled for decades, was removed from the Reporters Without Borders list because the North African country's autocratic president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, fled to Saudi Arabia on Jan. 14, a month after Tunisians began an uprising that sparked pro-democracy movements in the Arab world.

In Syria's rebel city 'they will shoot anything that moves'

Deraa is the centre of the revolt against the Assad regime. Here, a resident of a village on its outskirts describes life under siege

 

guardian.co.uk, Sunday 1 May 2011

Jordanians protest in solidarity with the rebels in the Syrian town
of Deraa. Photograph: Ali Jarekji/Reuters

There was shooting again last night. It has become routine. We haven't slept more than two hours at a time since the shooting began. It stops and then starts again. There is maybe one hour break between shooting.

We are like hostages in our homes. We are surrounded by tanks.

Yesterday we heard another three were killed. They were trying to go out to support the martyrs from Deraa, and the army shot them. They were only young; 18, 19, 22. There were more injured as well – 16 more from here but I don't know how many more nearby, because we can't communicate.

We are distributing all the injured among the houses because we are not allowed to take them to hospitals. We are trying to treat them for gunshot wounds inside the houses, but we don't have any medical equipment, we don't have any anaesthetics or even enough bandages– just basic first aid. Some of them are critical. There is no medical aid at all, and the doctors who try to treat the wounded are being arrested or shot.

We haven't had any electricity for five days now, and no water. There's no gas. We are living by candlelight at night. We don't have any food. We are surviving on the pickled vegetables that we store over the year, that's all we have left to eat. We had tank water but today we heard the army has shot the tanks.

Yesterday the army came to the houses and ordered the women to come out. They handed them loaves of bread and held guns to their heads then made them hand them to people in front of the state television cameras, so it looked like we had food and that everything is fine here. It's not and we don't have any food. I don't know what happened to the bread.

Anyone here who leaves the house is being shot. There are snipers on every building and the army is in the streets. We are just staying inside now, because you know now that if you try to leave the house, you are already a dead man. They will shoot anything that moves. And if soldiers refuse to fire on people, they are executed. These are all the fourth division soldiers in uniform.

They even shot a little girl, Shiraz. She was just playing in front of her house and they shot her. We still have not been able to bury her because they are shooting at the funerals.

Another pregnant woman was killed. She was in her eighth month and they shot her. She was just trying to get to the doctor. This is how brutal they are.

There are still 37 people that we haven't buried. We have had to store them in refrigerators or in the houses. We can't bury them because they are shooting on the funerals. We can't take them to the cemetery, so we built a small cemetery close to my village here where we are burying some of the dead. I heard that in the town centre there are still corpses in the street.

Today the soldiers have been coming from house to house and arresting a lot of the men. We have nowhere to go.

The kids are not going to school. They are afraid, of course, but I am telling them the truth, that we are doing this for freedom. We have been 40 years without freedom under this regime and we need to fight. This president is worse than Hitler.

It's dangerous for me to talk on the phone, but we need to do this. We will do whatever it takes for the world to hear our stories and hear what is really happening here.

We need people to know that the rumours that the state television is saying, that there are terrorists and Salafi groups are not true. We are all one family here.

There is no difference between us, whether we are Christian, Muslim, Druze, Shia, Sunni, it doesn't matter. We need people to know this – come and see how the army is killing our children, our women and parents. If the rumours were true, why don't they let the world come in and see?

We want to send our message to the whole world to stand with us. They are sending messages from the UN and the EU, and we thank the countries that are standing with the Syrian people for what we are asking for. But we need more help from the Arab leaders to have the courage to stand with us.

We need an investigation into the killing. We need people to see with their own eyes what is happening here.

We want to thank all the European countries and the US and the UK and we ask the Russians not to stand with the regime by supporting them and supplying them with weapons.

We also want to thank the King of Jordan for keeping the mobile phones from Jordan open, which has been the only way we can communicate.

We don't need anything, but a safe passage out of here and for the world to hear the truth. Thank you for listening to our story.

The resident was speaking via satellite phone to Lauren Williams in Beirut

Libya rebels ask Nato for help as Gaddafi forces bombard Misrata

Guardian.co.uk, Xan Rice in Misrata, Monday 2 May 2011 20.16 BST

• Humanitarian aid cannot reach city's harbour
• Evacuees and casualties stranded in the assaults

The harbour at Misrata is being constantly shelled by Gaddafi's forces,
preventing humanitarian aid from reaching the city. Photograph: Christophe
Simon/AFP/Getty Images

Muammar Gaddafi's forces have bombarded Misrata with missiles and tank fire, preventing ships carrying humanitarian aid from entering the port for a fourth straight day.

The sustained attacks on the port are causing deep concern in the city, which has been surrounded by Gaddafi's troops on land for more than two months. Food, medical supplies and other aid can only be delivered through the harbour, while migrant workers and casualties can only be evacuated by boat.

The shelling came as crowds gathered in Tripoli for the funeral of Gaddafi's son Saif al-Arab and three of his grandchildren, who were killed in a Nato air strike on Saturday, according to the government. Gaddafi did not attend the funeral but his son Saif al-Islam did, watching as his brother's coffin, covered in a green flag and flowers, was carried to the cemetery.

The deaths triggered reprisal attacks on the French and British embassies in Tripoli, and the US diplomatic mission, for their role in the Nato mission. But in Misrata, where more than 1,000 people have killed since late February, there is increasing anger that Nato is not doing enough to destroy Gaddafi's missile launchers that continue to pummel the city.

A ferry chartered by the International Organisation for Migration has been forced to wait offshore since Saturday morning. It is due to collect at least 800 African workers who have been trying to escape the city for weeks, and who have been forced to endure the barrage of missiles in recent days. More than 30 hospital patients, four of them in intensive care, are also waiting to board the ship.

"We know the only way to keep Misrata alive is to keep the harbour open," said Hafed Makhlouf, the controller and ship pilot of the port. "Gaddafi realises this too, and knows that the only way to extinguish the revolution is by starving the people."

On Sunday, just hours after Makhlouf had pleaded for Nato to stop the attack on the port, it was pounded again by dozens of missiles that struck the land as well as the sea around the harbour mouth. A checkpoint on the road to the port was also destroyed, killing two guards.

"To be honest, I am not that satisfied with Nato's actions," said Makhlouf, a navy veteran who has worked at the port since 1996. "The harbour has been nearly completely closed for days now."

But a few hours spent with Makhlouf in the controller's office again highlighted the difficulties in communications between the rebels and Nato, which was illustrated last week when 12 rebel fighters were killed after straying into an area that had been cleared for bombing.

"Nato, we have special information for you," said Makhlouf, speaking quickly into the radio. "Do you have a warship close to the breakwater? It's very urgent. Our men are going to fire."

The Nato radio operator answered immediately, promising to check.

Makhlouf ran outside with his satellite phone and binoculars, scanning the harbour entrance. His phone rang: it was Nato confirming neither of its two frigates were that close to the port. Indeed, what the rebel lookouts had spotted was a group of doctors aboard a small boat that had been dispatched from a mother ship forced to remain far offshore.

After losing the battle for Misrata's city centre last week, loyalist forces have concentrated their efforts on shutting down the port, which Gaddafi says is used by rebels to bring in arms. They have been doing so, using small fishing boats from the eastern city of Benghazi but the vast majority of the incoming cargo has been food, drugs and other medical supplies.

In addition to the missile attacks, Gaddafi has also attempted to sink some of the incoming ships using sea mines.

According to Makhlouf, the rebels had received a tip on Thursday from Zleten, a town 30 miles west of Misrata, that three small microbuses had been spotted dropping off a crew of frogmen near the harbour. Makhlouf said he passed on the warning to the two Nato warships stationed off Misrata.

At 4.30am on Friday, while he was asleep on the chair in his office, his radio crackled to life.

It was Nato, saying it had spotted four small dinghies approaching Misrata at speed.

"I asked Nato to act as I was sure it was a plot to destroy the warships, or other ships coming into Misrata," said Makhlouf.

He was right. The loyalist naval team was carrying several floating sea mines aboard two of the dinghies, which they sank about 1.5 miles offshore, directly in the shipping lane to Misrata.

Nato said it had intercepted three mines, and disposed of them.

Hillary Clinton urges Taliban to abandon violence

BBC News, 2 May 2011

Death of Bin Laden

• Osama Bin Laden's death Live
• The raid: How it happened
• From obscurity to 'most-wanted'
• The long hunt for Bin Laden

Mrs Clinton said the US would continue
taking the war to al-Qaeda and its allies

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has urged the Taliban to reject violence and "rejoin society" following the death of Osama Bin Laden.

She said his demise proved the Taliban "cannot wait out or defeat the US".

Mrs Clinton said that while Bin Laden's death was a significant milestone, the "battle to stop al-Qaeda and its syndicate of terror" was not over.

She said the operation to find and kill him showed that the US would never abandon its pursuit of justice.

'Syndicate of terror'

"Our message to the Taliban remains the same, but today it may have even greater resonance: you cannot wait us out, you cannot defeat us, but you can make the choice to abandon al-Qaeda and participate in a peaceful political process," she said in brief remarks at the state department.

She said the operation to find and kill the al-Qaeda leader nearly a decade after the 9/11 attacks showed how determined the US was, and how it would continue to boost its counter-terrorism co-operation with other countries, including Pakistan.

Mrs Clinton said that al-Qaeda 'was
motivated by a violent ideology'

The battle to stop al-Qaeda and its "syndicate of terror" would not end with Bin Laden's death, Mrs Clinton added, insisting the US would continue taking the fight to al-Qaeda and its Taliban allies.

She said that she wanted to offer her thoughts and prayers to "the thousands of families whose loved-ones were killed in Osama Bin Laden's campaign of terror and violence".

Those attacks included embassy bombings in Africa, the strike on the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000 and the 9/11 strikes.

"These were not just attacks against Americans, although we suffered grievous losses. These were attacks against the whole world," Mrs Clinton said.

"In London and Madrid, Bali, Istanbul and many other places, innocent people - most of them Muslims - were targeted, in markets and mosques, in subway stations and on airplanes.

"Each attack was motivated by a violent ideology that holds no value for human life or regard for human dignity."

Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden dead - Barack Obama

BBC News, 2 May 2011

Osama Bin Laden dead

• Osama Bin Laden's death Live
• Obituary
• Reaction in quotes
• Full text: President Obama

Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden has been killed by US forces in Pakistan, President Barack Obama has said.

Bin Laden was top of the US "most wanted" list

The al-Qaeda leader was killed in a ground operation outside Islamabad based on US intelligence, the first lead for which emerged last August.

Mr Obama said after "a firefight", US forces took possession of his body.

Bin Laden was accused of being behind a number of atrocities, including the attacks on New York and Washington on 11 September 2001.

He was top of the US' "most wanted" list.

Mr Obama said it was "the most significant achievement to date in our nation's effort to defeat al-Qaeda".

The US has put its embassies around the world on alert, warning Americans of the possibility of al-Qaeda reprisal attacks for Bin Laden's killing.

Crowds gathered outside the White House in Washington DC, chanting "USA, USA" after the news emerged.

Compound raided

Bin Laden approved the 9/11 attacks in which nearly 3,000 people died, saying later that the results had exceeded his expectations.

He evaded the forces of the US and its allies for almost a decade, despite a $25m bounty on his head.

Mr Obama said he had been briefed last August on a possible lead to Bin Laden's whereabouts.

"It was far from certain, and it took many months to run this thread to ground," Mr Obama said.

"I met repeatedly with my national security team as we developed more information about the possibility that we had located Bin Laden hiding within a compound deep inside of Pakistan.

"And finally, last week, I determined that we had enough intelligence to take action, and authorised an operation to get Osama Bin Laden and bring him to justice," the president said.

On Sunday a team of US forces undertook the operation in Abbottabad, 100km (62 miles) north-east of Islamabad.

After a "firefight" Bin Laden was killed and his body taken by US forces, the president said.

Mr Obama said "no Americans were harmed".

Giving more details of the operation, a senior US official said a small US team had conducted the operation in about 40 minutes.

One helicopter was lost due to "technical failure". The team destroyed it and left in its other aircraft.

Three other men were killed in the raid - one of Bin Laden's sons and two couriers - the official said, adding that one woman was also killed when she was used as "a shield" and two other women were injured.

The size and complexity of the structure in Abbottabad had "shocked" US officials.

President Barack Obama made the
announcement in a televised statement

It had 4m-6m (12ft-18ft) walls, was eight times larger than other homes in the area and was valued at "several million dollars", though it had no telephone or internet connection.

The US official said that intelligence had been tracking a "trusted courier" of Bin Laden for many years. The courier's identity was discovered four years ago, his area of operation two years ago and then, last August, his residence in Abbottabad was found, triggering the start of the mission.

Another senior US official said that no intelligence had been shared with any country, including Pakistan, ahead of the raid.

"Only a very small group of people inside our own government knew of this operation in advance," the official said.

The Abbottabad residence is just 700 metres (2,300 ft) from the Pakistan Military Academy - the country's equivalent of West Point.

'Momentous achievement'

Former US President George W Bush described the news as a "momentous achievement".

"The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done," Mr Bush said in a statement.

His predecessor, Bill Clinton, said in a statement: "This is a profoundly important moment not just for the families of those who lost their lives on 9/11 and in al-Qaeda's other attacks but for people all over the world who want to build a common future of peace, freedom, and cooperation for our children."

BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner says that, to many in the West, Bin Laden became the embodiment of global terrorism, but to others he was a hero, a devout Muslim who fought two world superpowers in the name of jihad.

The son of a wealthy Saudi construction family, Bin Laden grew up in a privileged world. But soon after the Soviets invaded Afghanistan he joined the mujahideen there and fought alongside them with his Arab followers, a group that later formed the nucleus for al-Qaeda.

After declaring war on America in 1998, Bin Laden is widely believed to have been behind the bombings of US embassies in East Africa, the attack on the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000 and the attacks on New York and Washington.

Syrian anti-government protesters taking
part in a demonstration in Banias in northeastern
Syria on Friday April 22, 2011. (CNN)

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