DNA Test Confirms Osama's Death

They reportedly compared DNA with sister's brain
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted May 2, 2011 10:16 AM CDT
Updated May 2, 2011 11:22 AM CDT
DNA Test Confirms Osama bin Laden's Death
In this 1998 file photo, Osama bin Laden speaks to the journalists in Khost, Afghanistan and made available Friday March 19, 2004.   (AP Photo/Mazhar Ali Khan, File)

DNA testing has proven with 99.9% certainty that Osama bin Laden was indeed one of the people killed in last night's raid, two Obama administration officials tell the AP. They did not say how the testing was done, but indicated that Obama may have had the initial results before announcing bin Laden's death.

According to the Telegraph, bin Laden's DNA was tested against a sample from his sister's brain. The sister died years ago in Boston, and the FBI immediately subpoenaed her body so that brain tissue and blood samples could be preserved for exactly this purpose. Facial recognition techniques were also used to identify the body, and bin Laden's wife reportedly identified him by name during the raid. Officials are still weighing whether or not to release a photo of Osama's body. (More Osama bin Laden stories.)

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