**The elite unit of US Navy SEALs, which killed Osama bin Laden inside Pakistan, had a specially-trained explosives-sniffing dog for the surgical strike.
The commandos, numbering 79, brought along the military dog for the covert operation at bin Laden’s compound in the garrison town of Abbottabad on Sunday, according to US media reports.
The fearless four-legged recruit was strapped to an assault team member during the operation in which the special forces lowered themselves down ropes from the helicopters to storm the Al Qaeda leader’s secret lair.
It is unclear what the role of this particular canine was in the 40-minute helicopter raid but he was probably there to sniff out explosives, detect weapons or even apprehend fleeing suspects
The dog used in the US raid would have run down the 9/11 mastermind if he had tried to escape, according to the reports.
The breed of the dog who has not been named was not known and he seems to have been unharmed in the operation and left with his team-mates.
The identity of the military super-dog, like that of the 79 Navy SEALs will remain a secret.
But experts say the canine is either a German shepherd or Belgian Malinois – breeds the US army believe have “the best overall combination of keen sense of smell, endurance, speed, strength, courage, intelligence and adaptability to almost any climatic condition”, **
