Osama Bin Laden compound in Abbottabad is being demolished

Osama Bin Laden’s compound in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad, where US forces killed him, is being demolished, residents and police say.

Osama Bin Laden was shot dead at the compound in the north-western city near the capital Islamabad in May 2011.

Security forces brought in bulldozers and began destroying the tall outer walls of the compound after sunset, reports say.

They set up floodlights to carry out the work.

In May 2011, a team of US Special Forces flew from Afghanistan to Osama Bin Laden’s hiding place during the night in stealth helicopters.

They swept through the buildings within the high-walled enclosure and shot dead a total of five people, including Osama Bin Laden.

Some 40 minutes later, they left, taking with them Osama Bin Laden’s body and a hoard of computer data devices and other information containing intelligence about al-Qaeda and Bin Laden’s activities.

The compound has been a painful reminder for Pakistan, which was embarrassed by the unilateral US operation that killed Osama Bin Laden.