Osama Bin Laden was living for the past few years not in a cave as many thought, but in a relatively luxurious compound in Abbottabad, a town 32 miles (51 km) north of the Pakistani capital Islamabad. Here are interesting facts about his hideout:

  1. The large mansion was worth an estimated $1 million.
  2. Constructed in 2005, it was eight times larger than nearby homes.
  3. It is set on an imposing hilltop and ringed by 12 feet to 18 foot-high concrete walls topped with barbed wire. (American officials believed that the mansion was designed for the specific purpose of hiding Osama bin Laden.)
  4. It had neither a telephone nor an Internet connection. (Intelligence reports are often dependent on picking up signals from phone and Internet connections.)
  5. Expensive cars and SUVs were seen often going in and out of the driveways.
  6. Bin Laden and his fellow residents were apparently so paranoid about security in the compound that they even burned their trash rather than leave it out for collection as neighbours did.
  7. Twenty people lived in the mansion and all of them were killed, according to military reports.
  8. Abbottabad, the city where it's located is home to the country's military academy. Bin Laden was living just 1,000 feet from Pakistani forces!