Osama bin-Laden addresses a news conference in Afghanistan in this May 26, 1998 file photo. [Photo/Agencies]

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Source: Bin Laden's death is the result of a US special forces and CIA operation.

11:29 Obama due to speak in a few minutes

WASHINGTON – Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the Sept. 11 attacks against the United States, is dead, and the US is in possession of his body, a person familiar with the situation said late Sunday.

President Barack Obama was expected to address the nation on the developments Sunday night.

A senior US counterterrorism official said bin Laden was killed in a ground operation in Pakistan, not by a Predator drone. The official said it happened last week.

Officials have long believed bin Laden, the most wanted man in the world, was hiding a mountainous region along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to speak ahead of the president.