US team’s mission was to kill bin Laden, not capture

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The U.S. special forces team  that hunted down Osama bin Laden was under orders to kill the  al Qaeda mastermind, not capture him, a U.S. national security  official told Reuters.
“This was a kill operation,” the official said, making  clear there was no desire to try to capture bin Laden alive in  Pakistan.