Turkish President Abdullah Gul said Monday he welcomed the death of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, who Washington said had been killed by the U.S. forces in Pakistan, local media reported.

"This development shows that terrorists and heads of terrorist organizations will end up eventually in the hands of security forces either dead or alive," Gul was quoted by the semi-official Anatolia news agency as telling reporters before departing for Austria.

"The end of the world's most dangerous and sophisticated terrorist should be a lesson to everyone ... I greatly welcome it, " he said.

The U.S. President Barack Obama announced Sunday night that a U. S. operation had killed bin Laden outside the Pakistani capital Islamabad.