Osama bin Laden, the Al Qaeda leader behind September 11 terror attack was killed in a firefight with U.S. forces in Pakistan on Sunday, U.S. President Barack Obama said.

Obama said that he had personally ordered the operation to be carried out and U.S. forces led an operation in Abbotabad north of Islamabad, RIA Novosti reports.

Osama bin Laden was born in 1957. He was the founder of the jihadist terrorist organization al-Qaeda, responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casulaty attacks against civilian and military targets.