Pictures of Osama's corpse gruesome: White House

The United States is looking into various options whether to make public the "gruesome" photos of Osama bin Laden's corpse as these pictures might inflame enemies' passions if released to prove the Al Qaeda chief's death. "It's fair to say that it's a gruesome photograph," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said when asked why the Obama administration was reluctant to release the pictures of the last moments of bin Laden.

"Well, to be candid, there are sensitivities here in terms of the appropriateness of releasing photographs of Osama bin Laden in the aftermath of this firefight, and we're making an evaluation about the need to do that because of the sensitivities involved," Carney said.

"We review this information and make this decision with the same calculation as we do so many things, which is what we're trying to accomplish and does it serve or in any way harm our interests. And that is not just domestic, but globally," he noted.

"It is certainly possible and this is an issue that we are taking into consideration, is that it could be inflammatory," Carney said but refused to entertain questions on who all have seen these pictures so far.

"We've made a great deal available to the public in remarkable time; we're talking about the most highly classified operation that this government has undertaken in many, many years. And the amount of information we've tried to provide to you in this short period of time is quite substantial. We will continue to review that and make decisions about the appropriateness of releasing more information as that review continues on," he said.

According to the press secretary, the visual material that is being reviewed, decisions about it will be made about what, if any of it, can be or should be released. "I don't want to get into specifics about what there is and what there isn't. I would just urge you to be patient given how much information has been released, and understanding about why we need to review this and make the appropriate decision," Carney said.

At the same time he denied reports that the pictures would be released soon. "There is simply a discussion about what the appropriate action should be," he said.

On Monday, US special forces in a daring raid deep into Pakistan killed Osama in his secret lair.