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‘Bap! Bap!’ SEAL hero at last tells how he killed bin Laden

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The Navy SEAL who killed Osama bin Laden has broken his silence and told for the first time of the daring raid that took out the evil terror leader who masterminded 9/11.

In an interview with Esquire magazine, the hero — who remains anonymous for safety concerns — tells how he and his SEAL Team Six comrades fought their way to bin Laden’s room in his Pakistan hideout and finally served justice.

“I shot him, two times in the forehead. Bap! Bap! The second time as he’s going down,” the Special Forces fighter said.

“He crumpled onto the floor in front of his bed, and I hit him again. Bap! Same place.“His forehead was gruesome. It was split open in the shape of a ‘V.’ I could see his brains spilling out over his face.”

The SEAL’s account is the most complete yet of the dramatic May 2, 2011, raid on bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

The man who killed bin Laden had been one of two dozen elite commandos who flew into Pakistan on two helicopters for the daring mission.

That night, the SEAL said he found himself following a comrade to the third floor of the lair, where intelligence said bin Laden was hiding, protected by guards and relatives.

As the mission started, he felt a strange calm.

“For some reason, I said to myself the George Bush 9/11 quote: ‘Freedom itself was attacked this morning by a faceless coward, and freedom will be defended,’ ” he said. “I could just hear his voice, and that was neat. I started saying it again and again to myself. Then I started to get pumped up. I’m like: ‘This is so on.’ ”

The attack on the bin Laden compound started with a display of skill, that took out the terror boss’ 23-year-old son, Khalid.

“I saw the point man holding up. He’d seen Khalid . . . I heard him whisper, ‘Khalid . . . come here,’ in Arabic, then in Pashto. He used his name. That confused Khalid,” the SEAL told the magazine.

“He’s probably thinking, ‘I just heard s–tty Arabic and s–tty Pashto. Who the f–k is this?’ He leaned out, armed with an AK, and he got blasted by the point man.

“That call-out was one of the best combat moves I’ve ever seen.”

The team then moved toward the room where bin Laden was holed up, and encountered some more of his entourage. The team knew the mass murderer’s minions may have been strapped with explosives. But the commandos bravely pressed on.

“On the third floor, [my point man] tackled two women in the hallway . . . He thought he was going to absorb the blast of suicide vests; he was going to kill himself so I could get the shot. It was the most heroic thing I’ve ever seen,” he recalled.

The SEAL, who has more than 30 confirmed kills in four war zones, described stepping into bin Laden’s pitch-black room.

Although bin Laden was likely in the dark about what was going on, the SEAL could see with his night-vision equipment.

“He [bin Laden] had his hands on a woman’s shoulders, pushing her ahead. It was his youngest wife, Amal . . . He looked confused. He was holding her in front of him. Maybe as a shield, I don’t know,” he said.

“[He was] taller than I was expecting . . . For me, it was a snapshot of a target ID, definitely him . . . That’s him, boom, done,” he said.

“He’s got a gun on a shelf right there, the short AK he’s famous for. And he’s moving forward. I don’t know if she’s got a [bomb] vest and she’s being pushed to martyr them both. He’s got a gun within reach. He’s a threat. I need to get a head shot so he won’t have a chance to clack himself off,” he said, using military lingo for setting off a bomb.

“In that second, I shot him. He was dead. Not moving. His tongue was out. I watched him take his last breaths, just a reflex breath.”

“And I remember as I watched him breathe out the last part of air, I thought: Is this the best thing I’ve ever done, or the worst thing I’ve ever done? This is real and that’s him. Holy s–t.”

The movie “Zero Dark Thirty,” about the raid, was inaccurate when it portrayed bin Laden’s family shouting his name, the SEAL said.

“When Osama went down, it was chaos, people screaming. No one called his name,” he said.

Although he was already dead, other members of the SEAL team got in their licks on bin Laden.

“I even joked about that with the guys before we were there. ‘I don’t give a s–t if you kill him — if I come in the room, I’m shooting his ass. I don’t care if he’s deader than fried chicken.’ ” he said.

Fellow team member Matt Bissonnette, whose book, “No Easy Day,” was published last year, says he shot bin Laden in the chest when he was down. Bin Laden was also shot in the leg.

The SEAL recalled getting a hero’s welcome back at base in Afghanistan. He also remembered eating a breakfast sandwich on while watching President Obama announce bin Laden’s death.

“I never expected people to be screaming ‘USA!’ with Geraldo outside the White House,” he said.

Now, nearly two years later and a civilian, the hero, who is in his mid-30s, said he’s concerned about how he will provide for his family and worries about other veterans in the same situation.

Many ex-military personnel find careers in security, but the SEAL said he never wants to handle a gun professionally again.

Suffering from arthritis, tendonitis, eye damage and blown disks, he lamented the way his health benefits were turned off.

“I asked if there was some transition from my Tricare to Blue Cross Blue Shield. They said no. You’re out of the service, your coverage is over. Thanks for your 16 years. Go f–k yourself.”