Terror leader’s wife was used as a human shield

US FORCES finally found al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden not in the rugged mountains of Afghanistan’s border, but in an expensive compound in an upscale summer resort a little more than an hour’s drive from Pakistan’s capital, with his youngest wife.

A small US team conducted a helicopter raid on the compound in Abbottabad, a town 60 kilometres north of Islamabad that is relatively affluent and home to many retired members of Pakistan’s military.

After 40 minutes of fighting, bin Laden, an adult son, one of bin Laden’s wives and two men — identified as a courier and his brother — were dead, officials said. White House counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan said bin Laden’s wife was being used as a human shield to protect him.