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A day after former US Navy Seal Robert O’Neill came out in the open and revealed that he was the man who killed dreaded Al Qaeda chief and terror mastermind Osama bin Laden back in 2011, another Navy Seal has countered his claims.
A source close to another SEAL team member said the team member told him the fatal shot was fired by one of two other men who entered the room before O'Neill.
On Thursday, O’Neill had acknowledged that shots had been fired at bin Laden by at least two other Seal team members, including Matt Bissonnette, a former Seal who wrote the 2012 book No Easy Day.
O’Neill confirmed to The Washington Post that he was the unnamed SEAL who was first to tumble through the doorway of bin Laden’s bedroom that night, taking aim at the terrorist leader as he stood in darkness behind his youngest wife. In an account later confirmed by two other SEALs, the Montana native described firing the round that hit bin Laden squarely in the forehead, killing him instantly.
O’Neill first described the entire raid to journalist Phil Bronstein for a February 2013 Esquire piece, which only referred to him as ‘the shooter.’
In that interview, he said that as he and his team advanced into the compound, it was only him and three others that headed towards the third floor, where Osama lived with his wives.
He was behind another commando, leading the column and when they saw Osama, the commando in ‘point position fired at him but missed, according to O’Neill.
An instant later, O'Neill went into the room and killed the Al Qaeda leader with shots to the head, he says.
Describing the moment, he gunned down Osama, O’Neill in the 2013 interview said that though the room was dark, he could see Osama’s features clearly and it was in that moment that he shot the terror leader twice in the forehead.
But sources in SEAL-Team Six, the unit which conducted the Bin Laden raid say that another SEAL fired the fatal shot from the area of the stairs leading to Bin Laden’s floor as Bin Laden peered out the door of his bedroom.
READ: REVEALED! The US soldier who shot down Osama