Pics of the Raid That Killed Bin Laden? Probably Not

Published May 02, 2011

So, here's the updated location of Bin Laden's compound. Notice just how close it is to Pakistan's version of West Point, the Pakistan Military Academy.

And above and below are shots of what an anonymous reader claims (who added a 'trust but verify' caveat) are images of the actual assault that killed the terrorist mastermind. You may have seen them already, I'm not sure how fast these pictures are making the rounds on the Internet. I'm pretty darned skeptical of this claim as we have no way of verifying them and they look just like countless other missions conducted throughout the Af-Pak region over the past few years.

Oh, and a quick Google search of the images says that some of the pictures are at least two days old. The operation that killed Bin Laden happened on May 1.

Furthermore, as Christian Lowe, editor of DT's sister site Kit Up! points out, the scenes in these images look a little too rural and it looks like the some of operators are "wearing straight up BDU camo, not AOR 2 or a SEAL-specific pattern." Still, the chopper shown in the shot above does appear to be an MH-47, so these are likely scenes from some type of SOF raid or exercise. There are also what appear to be poppies in one of the pictures, so we can be fairly certain it was taken in Afghanistan or Pakistan.

Enjoy and let us know what you think; any more input as to the authenticity or inauthenticity of these images is appreciated. If anything, let the pictures be a tribute to the unknown operators who pull off this type of mission on a fairly regular basis around the world.