Tom Cuthbert

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Google Maps updated with location of Osama bin Laden's compound

OsamabinLadenCompoundPakistanGoogleMapsGoogleEarth

It took years of intelligence gathering and months of following leads and planning an attack, but the U.S. was able to track Osama bin Laden to a living compound in the normally quiet Pakistan city of Abbottabad.

The compound, which has been described as a mansion, is about six times larger than neighboring homes with walls as high as 15 feet, topped with barbed wire. 

It reportedly had no telephone or Internet connections.

And, on Monday, Bin Laden's compound has been pinned in multiple different locations on Google Maps and Google Earth by users of Google's Map Maker web app, in various spots across Abbottabad.

Thanks to photos and diagrams released by the U.S. Dept. of Defense on Monday, it seems a likely accurate location for the compound can deciphered -- seen here.

The above screen shot, of what is identified as Osama Bin Laden's hide-out compound, can also be seen in the embeded Google map below:


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Here is the diagram of the compound, released by the U.S. Dept. of Defense, through the news agency Bloomberg, which described the graphic as "the compound where Osama bin Laden was killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan."

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Below is a graphic containing two satellite image of the location of Bin Laden's compound before and after it was constructed. According to the Dept. of Defense, "the U.S. special operations forces who killed Bin Laden didn't know for sure he was in the fortified villa about 35 miles from Islamabad until they swooped in and came face to face with the world's most wanted terrorist."

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