Osama’s killing a victorious milestone against terrorism: Krishna

New Delhi, May 2 (ANI): External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna on Monday said the killing of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is a historic development and victorious milestone in the global war against the forces of terrorism

 

In a statement, Krishna said: “US President Obama has just announced that his government has conducted a successful operation that has resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden deep inside Pakistan. This operation brings to closure an almost decade-long search for the head of the Al Qaeda.”

 

“Over the years, thousands of innocent lives of men, women and children have been tragically lost at the hands of terrorist groups. The world must not let down its united effort to overcome terrorism and eliminate the safe havens and sanctuaries that have been provided to terrorists in our own neighbourhood. The struggle must continue unabated,” he added.

 

Earlier today, the United States Government informed that Osama Bin Laden had been killed by security forces somewhere "deep inside Pakistan."

 

Osama, 54, who created and funded the al Qaeda terror network, was accused of being behind a number of atrocities, including the attacks on New York and Washington on 11 September 2001.

 

He was suspected of playing large roles in the 1998 bombings of two US Embassies in Africa and the attack on the USS Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden in October 2000. (ANI)

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Al Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden killed, Obama says justice done

The world's most wanted man, Osama bin Laden is dead, US President Barack Obama has confirmed. Osama was killed in a firefight in Pakistan. In a dramatic, late-night White House speech, Obama revealed that he had been briefed last August on a possible lead to Osama’s whereabouts and he authorised an operation last week to bring the al Qaeda chief “to justice”. The President also said that Osama’s body was in US custody.

The mastermind of the worst terrorist attacks on American soil is dead, U.S. President Barack Obama announced late Sunday night, almost 10 years after the attacks that killed about 3,000 people. Osama bin Laden -- the founder and leader of al Qaeda -- was killed by U.S. forces Sunday in a mansion in Abbottabad, north of the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, along with other family members, a senior U.S. official told CNN. In an address to the nation Sunday night, Obama called bin Laden's death the most significant achievement to date in our the USA’s effort to defeat al Qaeda.

Obama said he had been briefed last August on a possible lead to Bin Laden's whereabouts. After being confirmed about the location of the dreaded Al Qaida leader, a team of US forces undertook the operation in Abbottabad on Sunday evening. After a firefight Bin Laden was killed and his body taken by US forces

In his speech, Obama reiterated that the United States is not at war with Islam. Footage that aired on GEO TV on Monday showed fire and smoke spewing from the compound where bin Laden was killed. Half a world away, the scene outside the White House was of pure jubilation. Hundreds reveled through the night, chanting "USA! USA!" Others chanted "Hey, hey, hey, goodbye!" in reference to the demise of bin Laden. Many also spontaneously sang the national anthem. The news also brought some relief to family members of those killed on 9/11. Bin Laden eluded capture for years, once reportedly slipping out of a training camp in Afghanistan just hours before a barrage of U.S. cruise missiles destroyed it. He had been implicated in a series of deadly, high-profile attacks that had grown in their intensity and success during the 1990s. They included a deadly firefight with U.S. soldiers in Somalia in October 1993, the bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa that killed 224 in August 1998, and an attack on the USS Cole that killed 17 sailors in October 2000. U.S. diplomatic facilities around the world were placed on high alert following the announcement of bin Laden's death and the U.S. State Department issued a worldwide caution for Americans.

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IAF detects 'chopper-like object' in Bhutan

Shillong: Images taken by two Su30 aircraft have detected 'an aircraft-like something' in an area in Bhutan on which aerial search is focusing to locate the helicopter carrying Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu and four others which went missing on Saturday.

"Su30s with recee pods have managed to pick up something which has been given for assessment. What they have found is something like an aircraft," Eastern Air Command Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Air Marshal KK Nohwar said on Monday.

The helicopters are searching with the inputs, he said."The helicopters have made attempts to go to certain areas in Bhutan. Whenever the weather is clearing, the helicopters are being pressed into service," Nohwar said.

He said inputs also came from ISRO on three possible sites.

"Information coming from villagers say they have heard or saw something and are being collated with other inputs and based on that search is being conducted," he said.

Stating that the weather has been hindering the aerial search, the Air Marshal said aircraft are on stand-by in Guwahati, Tawang and Tezpur for search operations.

Asked about the possibility of sabotage, Nohwar said "I don t think so. Let's not jump the gun and talk about all these things."

On the possible reasons of a likely crash, Nohwar said "it is too early to say about the reason. But weather could be one of the causes."

The Pawan Hans chopper, he said, was a brand new one and was only four months old.

"We are concerned about what has happened. From the time we got the information, we have launched our helicopters. The army has also launched a massive operation on the ground," he said.

Asked why Su30s were brought from Bareilly when two squadrons were stationed in Tezpur and Chabua in Assam, Nohwar said the Sukhois in the Northeast lacked mapping equipment.

The four-seater single-engine Pawan Hans helicopter went missing on Saturday 20 minutes after takeoff from Tawang at 9:56 am.

Besides Khandu, the others on board were pilots Captain JS Babbar and Captain TS Mamik, Khandu's security officer Yeshi Choddak and a lady Yeshi Lhamu, sister of Tawang MLA Tsewang Dhondup.

The chopper was to land at Itanagar at about 11:30 am.

The Guwahati air traffic control had reportedly received the last radio communication from it when it was flying near Sela Pass 20 minutes after takeoff.

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Largest-ever 3D map of distant universe created

Washington: Planetary scientists claim to have created the largest-ever three-dimensional map of the distant universe, using the light of the brightest objects in the cosmos.

Since this distant light took eons to reach Earth, the map is essentially a window back in time, providing an unprecedented view of what the universe looked like 11 billion years ago, say the scientists.

In fact, they made the map using light from 14,000 quasars -- supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies billions of light years away -- with the third Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-III). The map is the first major result from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), SDSS-III's largest

survey, whose principal investigator is David Schlegel of the US Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory.

 

The huge new map was presented at the April meeting of the American Physical Society in Anaheim, CA, by An e Slosar of Brookhaven National Laboratory. "Quasars are the brightest objects in the universe, which we use as convenient backlights to illuminate the intervening hydrogen gas that fills the universe between us and them," Slosar said.

"We can see their shadows, and the details in their shadows" -- specifically, the absorption features in their spectra known as the Lyman-alpha forest -- "allowing us to see how the gas is clumped along our line of sight.

"The amazing thing is that this allows us to see the universe so very far away, where measuring positions of individual galaxies in large numbers is impractical," he said.

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