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Edition: U.S. Article Comments (4) Slideshow Video Follow Reuters Facebook Twitter RSS YouTube Read Eating less salt doesn't cut heart risks: study 03 May 2011 Bush declines Obama's invitation to "Ground Zero" 12:10am EDT U.S. says bin Laden photo "gruesome," weighs release 03 May 2011 Bin Laden not armed during assault: White House | 03 May 2011 Aerosmith's Steven Tyler rips "Celebrity Rehab" 03 May 2011 Discussed 167 Obama to make statement late Sunday, White House says 107 Donald Trump calls U.S. leaders ”stupid” 106 White House releases longer Obama birth certificate Watched Video of bin Laden compound fire Mon, May 2 2011 Fire ants form rafts to defy floods Tue, Apr 26 2011 Bin Laden unarmed when killed - White House Tue, May 3 2011 U.S. says bin Laden unarmed; more pressure on Pakistan Tweet Share this By Kamran Haider and Matt Spetalnick ABBOTTABAD/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Osama bin Laden was unarmed when U.S. special forces shot and killed him, the White House said, as it vowed to "get to the bottom" of whether Pakistan helped the al Qaeda leader... Email Print Factbox Details of the Osama bin Laden raid Tue, May 3 2011 Related News Q+A: What really happened in Abbottabad? Tue, May 3 2011 Analysis: U.S. to juggle risks, resources after bin Laden Tue, May 3 2011 Analysis: Bin Laden death to fuel U.S. debate on Afghan war Tue, May 3 2011 Analysis: Bin Laden death may hasten Afghan settlement Tue, May 3 2011 Bin Laden dead? Again? Conspiracy theories abound Tue, May 3 2011 Bin Laden sea burial not in line with Islam, clerics say Tue, May 3 2011 Helicopter loss in bin Laden raid highlights risks Tue, May 3 2011 Analysis & Opinion Bin Laden sea burial not in line with Islam, Muslim clerics say Islamist militants hold prayers for bin Laden in Pakistan Related Topics World » Politics » Osama bin Laden » Barack Obama » Related Video U.S. seeks answers over Bin Laden 1:08am EDT Behind the scenes of the bin Laden raid Bin Laden unarmed when killed - White House High security after bin Laden death U.S. increases security after bin Laden death Video of bin Laden compound fire Afghans react to bin Laden's death Bin Laden unarmed during raid: White House 1 / 27 This DigitalGlobe satellie image, taken June 15, 2005 and obtained on May 3, 2011, shows the compound (C) that Osama bin Laden was killed in on Monday in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Credit: Reuters/DigitalGlobe/Handout By Kamran Haider and Matt Spetalnick ABBOTTABAD/WASHINGTON | Wed May 4, 2011 3:22am EDT ABBOTTABAD/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Osama bin Laden was unarmed when U.S. special forces shot and killed him, the White House said, as it vowed to "get to the bottom" of whether Pakistan helped the al Qaeda leader elude a 10-year manhunt. Pakistan faced growing pressure on Wednesday to explain how the world's most-wanted man was able to live for years in the military garrison town of Abbottabad, just north of Islamabad, a situation a leading newspaper called a national embarrassment. Pakistan has denied it gave shelter to bin Laden. The revelation that bin Laden was unarmed appeared to contradict an earlier account from a U.S. security official that the al Qaeda leader "participated" in a firefight with the helicopter-borne American commandos. White House spokesman Jay Carney on Tuesday cited the "fog of war" -- a phrase suggested by a reporter -- as a reason for the initial misinformation. If this becomes controversial, it could complicate U.S. efforts to mend ties with the Muslim world in the wake of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, conflicts sparked by the September 11, 2001 attacks that bin Laden orchestrated. U.S. officials are also wrestling with whether to release graphic photographs of bin Laden's body -- he was shot in the face -- which could provide proof of his death but risks offending Muslims. "It's fair to say that it's a gruesome photograph," Carney said. Pakistan has welcomed bin Laden's death, but its foreign ministry expressed "deep concerns" about the raid, which it called an "unauthorized unilateral action". The CIA said it kept Pakistan out of the loop because it feared bin Laden would be tipped off, highlighting the depth of mistrust between the two supposed allies. U.S. helicopters carrying the commandos used radar "blind spots" in the hilly terrain along the Afghan border to enter Pakistani airspace undetected in the early hours of Monday. In an editorial on Wednesday titled "National Embarrassment", the Pakistani newspaper Dawn compared the latest humiliation to the admission in 2004 that one of the country's top scientists had sold its nuclear secrets. "Not since Abdul Qadeer Khan confessed to transferring nuclear technology to Iran and Libya has Pakistan suffered such an embarrassment," it said. The streets around bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad remained sealed off on Wednesday, with police and soldiers allowing only residents to pass through. "It's a crime but what choice are you left with if I'm not handing over your enemy who is hiding in my house?" said Hussain Khan, a retired government official living nearby, when asked about the apparent violation of Pakistan's sovereignty. "Obviously you will go and get him yourself." UNARMED RESISTANCE Carney insisted bin Laden resisted when U.S. forces stormed his compound -- although he would not say how. "There was concern that bin Laden would oppose the capture operation and, indeed, he resisted," Carney said. "A woman ... bin Laden's wife, rushed the U.S. assaulter and was shot in the leg but not killed. Bin Laden was then shot and killed. He was not armed." White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan, briefing reporters earlier this week, had also indicated bin Laden was armed when he said: "He was engaged in a firefight ... and whether or not he got off any rounds, I quite frankly don't know." The New York Times also quoted officials as saying that the commandos did not know if bin Laden or others were wearing suicide belts. The strike team opened fire in response to "threatening moves" as they reached the third-floor room where they found bin Laden in his sprawling compound, CIA Director Leon Panetta said in an interview with PBS television. "The authority here was to kill bin Laden," he said. "And obviously, under the rules of engagement, if he had in fact thrown up his hands, surrendered and didn't appear to be representing any kind of threat, then they were to capture him. But they had full authority to kill him." Indeed, a U.S. security official had told Reuters on Monday bin Laden would have been taken alive if he had surrendered, but otherwise the raid was a "kill operation". U.S. officials have also backtracked on an earlier statement that bin Laden's wife had been used as a human shield. UNLAWFUL KILLING? While many world leaders applauded the U.S. operation, there were concerns in parts of Europe that the United States was wrong to act as policeman, judge and executioner. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder defended the action as lawful on Tuesday, but some in Europe said bin Laden should have been captured and put on trial. "It was quite clearly a violation of international law," former West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt told German TV. "The operation could also have incalculable consequences in the Arab world in light of all the unrest." Geoffrey Robertson, a prominent London-based human rights lawyer, said the killing "may well have been a cold-blooded assassination" that risked making bin Laden a martyr. "It's not justice. It's a perversion of the term. Justice means taking someone to court, finding them guilty upon evidence and sentencing them," the Australian-born Robertson told Australian Broadcasting Corp television. Pakistan has come under intense international scrutiny since bin Laden's death, with questions on whether its security agencies were too incompetent to catch him or knew all along where he was hiding, and even whether they were complicit. The compound where bin Laden has been hiding -- possibly for as long as five or six years -- was close to Pakistan's military academy in Abbottabad, about 40 miles from Islamabad. "It would be premature to rule out the possibility that there were some individuals inside of Pakistan, including within the official Pakistani establishment, who might have been aware of this," Brennan said. PAKISTAN UNDER PRESSURE CIA Director Panetta, in an unusually blunt interview with Time magazine, explained why Islamabad was not informed of the raid until all the helicopters carrying the U.S. Navy SEALs -- and bin Laden's body -- were out of Pakistani airspace. "It was decided that any effort to work with the Pakistanis could jeopardize the mission: they might alert the targets," Panetta said. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari defended his government, which receives billions of dollars in U.S. aid. "Some in the U.S. press have suggested that Pakistan lacked vitality in its pursuit of terrorism, or worse yet that we were disingenuous and actually protected the terrorists we claimed to be pursuing," Zardari wrote in the Washington Post. "Such baseless speculation ... doesn't reflect fact." Later, Pakistan's foreign ministry said its Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) spy agency had been sharing information about the compound with the CIA and other friendly intelligence agencies since 2009 and had continued to do so until mid-April. "It is important to highlight that taking advantage of much superior and technological assets, CIA exploited the intelligence leads given by us to identify and reach Osama bin Laden," the ministry said in a lengthy statement. In Afghanistan the Taliban, who harbored bin Laden until overthrown in late 2001, challenged the truth of his death, saying Washington had not provided "acceptable evidence to back up their claim" that he had been killed. No photos or video of bin Laden's body or swift burial at sea have been released. Panetta said there was never any doubt that ultimately a photograph would be made public, but other officials said no final decision had been taken, reflecting an intense internal debate in Washington. "I'll be candid. There are sensitivities here in terms of the appropriateness of releasing photographs of Osama bin Laden," said Carney. (Additional reporting by Reuters bureau worldwide; Writing by Alex Richardson; Editing by Dean Yates and John Chalmers) World Politics Osama bin Laden Barack Obama Tweet this Share this Link this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story directly or with relevant tangential information. We try to block comments that use offensive language, all capital letters or appear to be spam, and we review comments frequently to ensure they meet our standards. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. Comments (4) purko wrote: It’s all bogus information…first he was armed and shooting at the hamerikans…then suddenly he was unarmed and sleeping in his pijamas…first he was one shot killed in the head…later on he was been practed shooting on with multiple wounds and at the end after so much hassel he was damped at sea…well make up ur mind and present at least a plausible story for adults … and would’t it make more sense to capture that man alive after you have been hunting for him for decades rather than shoot him in his pijamas. Well at least Obie got his rating boossted after record low approval :-) May 03, 2011 12:40am EDT -- Report as abuse Skylor wrote: Did they really HAVE to shoot him in the head ? May 03, 2011 12:47am EDT -- Report as abuse OCTheo wrote: WHEN WILL THE US explain why Luis Posada Carriles who masterminded the bombing of the Cuban Airline on October 6, 1976 which took the lives of all 73 people on board, is allowed to live in the United States free of any legal consequences? This scumbag is a real terrorist, yet America welcomes him to live in the US. Carriles is a wanted man, and yet US refuses to extradite him for the murder of 76 innocent civilians. The reality is that Carilles is a murderer as much as Osama bin Laden, but he is a good murderer because the plane involved is Cuban. And both of them are former CIA agents. America must live what it preaches, or stop barking orders at everyone else. May 04, 2011 1:01am EDT -- Report as abuse See All Comments » Add Your Comment Social Stream (What's this?) © Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters Editorial Editions: Africa Arabic Argentina Brazil Canada China France Germany India Italy Japan Latin America Mexico Russia Spain United Kingdom United States Reuters Contact Us Advertise With Us Help Journalism Handbook Archive Site Index Video Index Reader Feedback Mobile Newsletters RSS Podcasts Widgets Your View Analyst Research Thomson Reuters Copyright Disclaimer Privacy Professional Products Professional Products Support Financial Products About Thomson Reuters Careers Online Products Acquisitions Monthly Buyouts Venture Capital Journal International Financing Review Project Finance International PEhub.com PE Week FindLaw Super Lawyers Attorney Rating Service Reuters on Facebook Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. 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