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How we shot bin Laden, by US Navy Seal

Osama bin Laden was unarmed and peeking out of his bedroom when he was shot in the head, according to the first eyewitness account from a member of the US Navy Seal team that killed him.

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Osama bin Laden was unarmed and peeking out of his bedroom when he was shot in the head, according to the first eyewitness account from a member of the US Navy Seal team that killed him.

The account contradicts the official version of the raid on the former al-Qaeda leader's compound last year, which suggested that the terrorist might have been reaching for a gun.

The disclosure in No Easy Day, a book written by a 36-year-old Seal under the pseudonym Mark Owen, raises questions over whether bin Laden represented a clear threat when he was first fired on.

In the book, which will be published on Sept 4, Owen describes being directly behind the "point man" as the Seals advanced up a narrow stairwell.

"We were less than five steps from getting to the top when I heard suppressed shots," he writes. "BOP. BOP. I couldn't tell from my position if the rounds hit the target or not. The man disappeared into the dark room."

The Seals followed bin Laden into the bedroom where they found him crumpled on the floor and convulsing in a pool of blood with a hole visible on the right side of his head, according to Owen. Two women were wailing over his body.

He says that the point man pulled the women away into a corner, and the terrorist was then shot several times. "We trained our lasers on his chest and fired several rounds. The bullets tore into him, slamming his body into the floor until he was motionless," Owen writes.

They then examined his face and confirmed the identity of the dead man, who was wearing a white sleeveless T-shirt, loose tan trousers and a tunic.

Owen says that he found two guns, an AK-47 and a Makarov pistol, in the room but they were not loaded. He writes: "He hadn't even prepared a defence. He had no intention of fighting. He asked his followers for decades to wear suicide vests or fly planes into buildings, but didn't even pick up his weapon."

In the US government's official account of the raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan on May 2 last year, the Seals shot bin Laden only after he ducked back into the bedroom, because they assumed he might be going for a weapon.

The White House declined to comment on the apparent contradiction. Owen's version of events raises questions over whether the raid was intended to capture or kill bin Laden. Owen writes that during a pre-raid briefing a lawyer from "either" the White House or Defence Department told the Seals that they were not on an assassination mission.

Further disclosures in the book include that one of the Seals sat on bin Laden's chest in the cramped helicopter flight out of Abbottabad. There was little space as one of their helicopters had crashed during the initial assault.

Owen also says that none of the Seals were "fans" of President Barack Obama but they respected him for giving the operation the green light. One is said to have commented: "We'll get Obama re-elected for sure. I can see him now, talking about how he killed bin Laden."

The book was not cleared by defence officials in advance, raising the possibility that the author could face an investigation and criminal prosecution.

Amid controversy over the book, Owen, who denies compromising national security, has had his real identity disclosed in the US media. He subsequently faced death threats on al-Qaeda websites.

A White House spokesman said: "As President Obama said on the night that justice was brought to Osama bin Laden, 'We give thanks for the men who carried out this operation, for they exemplify the professionalism, patriotism and unparalleled courage of those who serve our country.'?"

 

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