U.S. allies offer congratulations on death of Osama bin Laden
News that Osama bin Laden has been killed brought messages of congratulations from some of the United States’ closest allies.
British Prime Minister David Cameron said Bin Laden’s death would “bring great relief to people across the world.”
Photo gallery: Reactions to Osama bin Laden death
“Osama bin Laden was responsible for the worst terrorist atrocities the world has seen -- for 9/11 and for so many attacks, which have cost thousands of lives, many of them British,” Cameron said in a statement. “It is a great success that he has been found and will no longer be able to pursue his campaign of global terror.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Bin Laden’s death a “victory for justice, freedom and the common values of every democratic nation that fights shoulder to shoulder in the struggle against terrorism.”
Kenya’s prime minister, Raila Odinga, said the news “can only be positive” for the east African country, which suffered a devastating al Qaeda attack in 1998.
“Kenyans are happy and thank the U.S. people, the Pakistani people and everybody else who managed to kill Osama,” Raila Odinga told Reuters.
Turkish President Abdullah Gul also expressed “great pleasure” at the killing of bin Laden, according to Bloomberg News.
Others warned, however, that bin Laden’s death would not bring an end to terrorist attacks.
“The scourge of terrorism has suffered an historic defeat but it’s not the end of al Qaeda,” French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in a statement quoted by Bloomberg News. “The combat against these criminals must be pursued without rest and unite all states that are victims of their crimes.”
In India, Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said the killing of Bin Laden “deep inside Pakistan” underscored concern that terrorists “belonging to different organizations find sanctuary in Pakistan.”
Chidambaram urged Pakistan to arrest those involved in carrying out the 2008 terrorist attack on Mumbai, according to Bloomberg News.
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