The September 11, 2001 attacks set the United States on a relentless hunt for Osama bin Laden, the founder of Al-Qaeda and mastermind of the attacks.

Nearly 3,000 people were killed when 19 Al-Qaeda militants hijacked four passenger planes and crashed them into the World Trade Center towers in New York, the Pentagon and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The US soon launched its “War on Terror” and invaded Afghanistan to dismantle Al-Qaeda and capture bin Laden.

But bin Laden escaped.

For nearly a decade, his whereabouts remained unknown. The breakthrough came after US intelligence identified one of his most trusted couriers. In 2010, operatives tracked the courier to Abbottabad, Pakistan, where they discovered a heavily fortified three-storey compound.

On May 1, 2011, US Navy SEALs launched Operation Neptune Spear, a covert helicopter raid on the compound. Within about 18 minutes of entering, they had located and killed bin Laden.

How did a courier lead US intelligence to bin Laden? How was the Abbottabad compound identified? What happened during the 18-minute raid? And why was a helicopter destroyed after the operation?

Explore the special Onmanorama infographic to trace the decade-long hunt for bin Laden and the dramatic operation that brought it to an end.