Hundreds in Pakistan Pay Tribute to Bin Laden

Hundreds of Islamists rallied in Pakistan's southwestern city of Quetta Thursday to pay tribute to al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden on the second anniversary of his death.

Organized by a pro-Taliban faction of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI), headed by Maulvi Ismatullah, some 450 participants at the rally chanted: "Long live Islamic jehad and long live Mulla Omar!" an Agence France Presse reporter at the scene said.

Many of them were also carrying portraits of bin Laden.

The JUI's central secretary for information, Maulana Abdul Sattar Chisti, paid tributes to bin Laden.

"We are observing death anniversary of an Islamic hero, who was killed by American and Pakistani agents," he said.

"Bin Laden's martyrdom gave a new impetus to jehad against forces inimical to Islam," he added.

Bin Laden, the founder of al-Qaida and mastermind of the 9/11 attacks on the United States, was killed on May 2, 2011 in a secret U.S. Navy SEAL operation in a walled-off compound in the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad.