Osama bin Laden's death has been confirmed by DNA tests that show a "virtually 100%" match with the al Qaeda leader, US officials have revealed.
The world's most-wanted man was buried at sea in the early hours of the morning, after he was killed by a gunshot to the head at a villa in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad.
Officials said his body had also been identified by a woman believed to be one of his wives.
US President Barack Obama, who watched the operation unfold in real time on TV screens, said:
"The world is safer, it is a better place because of the death of Osama bin Laden."
A US defence official said Bin Laden was given an Islamic funeral, which involved him being wrapped in a white sheet and washed before being sent overboard.
Blood-stained carpets, stripped beds and emptied drawers can be seen in footage filmed inside the villa by American broadcaster ABC News following the raid.
Video pictures showed flames rising from the scene of the firefight between US forces and Bin Laden's guards just before 1am local time on Monday.
It is thought the al Qaeda leader had been living in the walled $1m villa - just 37 miles from the Pakistani capital Islamabad - for at least the last eight months.
the high-security luxury home, which was built in 2005, aroused suspicion after authorities noted it had no telephone or internet connections.
Bin Laden's compound is very close to Pakistan's main army training camp - the Pakistani Kakul Academy in Bilal Town.
US officials said the CIA tracked Bin Laden to his location, then elite troops from Navy Seal Team Six, a top military counter-terrorism unit, swooped on the hideout in four helicopters.
The al Qaeda leader, blamed for the 9/11 attacks on America in 2001, was reportedly asked to surrender by US forces before he was shot in the head.
Pakistani television stations earlier broadcast what they claimed was a photograph of the bloodied face of the world's most wanted man after his death, but this was later shown to be a fake.
The US president said he was briefed last summer about a possible lead to the whereabouts of Bin Laden - who fled the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 - and last week appproved an operation "to bring Bin Laden to justice".
Speaking from Downing Street, the Prime Minister David Cameron said the news would be welcomed across the country.
"It is, I believe, a massive step forward," he said.
Meanwhile, the Foreign Office issued an alert to UK nationals overseas, advising them to monitor local reactions and remain vigilant.