U.S. President Barack Obama has announced that the world's most wanted terrorist, al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, was killed by U.S. forces on Sunday at a compound deep inside Pakistan.

Mr. Obama made the announcement during a live nationwide television address at the White House Sunday night.

This development comes nearly 10 years after the catastrophic attacks by al-Qaida operatives on the United States on September 11, 2001.

U.S. forces have been hunting the Saudi terrorist kingpin ever since.

Mr. Obama said bin Laden was not a Muslim leader, but a "mass murderer of Muslims." The president said bin Laden was captured with the help of Pakistani intelligence.