Pakistani authorities have finished destroying the compound where U.S. special forces killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden last May.

Workers completed the demolition job in the northwestern garrison town of Abbottabad Monday. Bulldozers tore down the final remnants of the three-story concrete compound where bin Laden lived for years before his death.

Pakistani security forces cordoned off the area during the demolition process to keep spectators and journalists away. The demolition began late Saturday.

Officials have never said why they decided to tear down the compound that once housed the leader of the al-Qaida terrorist organization.

Pakistan was outraged and embarrassed by the daring night raid that killed bin Laden. The United States said it kept the raid secret because it feared someone in Pakistan's government might tip off the al-Qaida chief.

The U.S.-Pakistan relationship, which has been especially tense since the raid, deteriorated further after a U.S. airstrike on a Pakistani border post in November left 24 Pakistani soldiers dead.