Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was unarmed when United States Navy commandoes shot him dead during a special operation in Pakistan though he did offer resistance, the White House said on Wednesday.
"He was not armed," White House spokesperson Jay Carney told mediapersons, but added that several other people in the building in Abbottabad had weapons and there was a "volatile firefight".
Carney read out a revised White House statement on the operation that took out the world's most wanted man at a press briefing. He said revised narrative corrects errors in the earlier statements including the claim that bin Laden used a woman as a "human shield".
"There was concern bin Laden would oppose the capture operation and indeed, he did resist," Carney said. He said bin Laden's wife, who was present at the mansion, was shot in the leg, but not killed.
"Bin Laden was then shot and killed. He was not armed," Carney said. The spokesperson also said that the picture of bin laden's body was "gruesome" and the administration was disucssing whether it should be made public.
"It is fair to say it is a gruesome photograph ... it could be inflammatory," he said. Osama was shot in the head during the special US operation. Carney also said that the major development would not affect plans to begin troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in July.
Giving a recap of the events, Carney said on orders of the US President, a small US team assaulted a secure compound in an affluent suburb of Islamabad to capture or kill Osama. Carney's statement was an effort by the White House to clear the confusion with regard to various statements and news reports coming on this issue in various media outlets.
The raid was conducted with US military personnel assaulting on two helicopters, he said. The team methodically cleared the compound moving from room to room in an operation lasting nearly 40 minutes. "They were engaged in a firefight throughout the operation and Osama bin Laden was killed by the assaulting force," Carney said. He said in addition to the bin Laden family, two other families resided in the compound.
"One team began the operation on the first floor of the bin Laden house and worked their way to the third floor; a second team cleared the separate building," he said. He said on the first floor of the building, two Al Qaeda couriers were killed along with a woman who died in cross-fire.
Bin Laden and his family were found on the second and third floor of the building. "In the room with bin Laden, a woman -- bin Laden's wife -- rushed the US assaulter and was shot in the leg but not killed," Carney said. Carney said following the firefight, the non-combatants were moved to a safe location as the damaged helicopter was detonated.
The team departed the scene via helicopter to the United States Ship Carl Vinson in the North Arabian Sea, he said, adding that aboard the USS Carl Vinson, the last rites of bin Laden were conducted in conformance with Islamic precepts and practices.
"The deceased's body was washed and then placed in a white sheet. The body was placed in a weighted bag; a military officer read prepared religious remarks, which were translated into Arabic by a native speaker.
"After the words were complete, the body was placed on a prepared flat board, tipped up, and the deceased body eased into the sea," Carney said.
