U.S. officials: DNA evidence proves Osama bin Laden is dead

DNA evidence has proven with 99.9 percent confidence that al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden is dead, two officials in U.S. President Barack Obama\'s administration said Monday.

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Jeffrey Hensiek

May 2, 2011

DNA evidence has proven with 99.9 percent confidence that al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden is dead, two officials in U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration said Monday.

The officials did not immediately say where or how the testing was done but the test explains why Obama was confident to announce to the world on Sunday night that the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 had been killed in a U.S. helicopter raid on a mansion near the Pakistani capital Islamabad.

The initial DNA results show a “very confident match” to bin Laden, giving “high confirmation” that it was bin Laden killed in the raid in Pakistan, one of the officials said.