Nearly a Decade after 9/11, Osama bin Laden is Dead

President Barack Obama Sunday night announced the end of a manhunt that has endured nearly a decade – a small team of Americans entered a Pakistani town and killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

The leader of the terrorist organization that carried out the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and left nearly 3,000 people dead at the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon in Washington, DC, and a field near Shanksville, PA.

“The images of 9/11 are seared into our national memory,” Obama said during a speech broadcast Sunday night. “And yet we know that the worst images are those that were unseen to the world … the empty seat at the dinner table; children who were forced to grow up without their mother or their father; parents who would never know the feeling of their child’s embrace."

“The American people did not choose this fight. It came to our shores and started with the senseless slaughter of our citizens,” Obama continued. “Tonight we can say … justice has been done.”

The president explained that the military team that conducted the operation – which began about eight months ago – took custody of bin Laden’s body, which was later positively identified.

“His death does not mark the end of our effort,” Obama continued. “We must and we will remain vigilant at home and abroad.”

Obama also reached out to the Muslim world, stating that the United States has targeted extremists who wished to cause harm to Americans, not simply adherents to Islam.

“I’ve made clear … that our war in not against Islam,” he said. “[Bin Laden's] demise should be welcome by all who believe in peace and human dignity.”

The president also called on Americans to remember the “sense of unity that prevailed on 9/11. The cause of securing our country is not complete, but tonight we are reminded that American can do whatever we set our mind to. That is the story of our history … One nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

Check for updates to the story at The Huffington Post.

Read the president's full speech .