Pakistan dismisses US raid fears

CIA chief Leon Panetta has said no intelligence was shared with Pakistan for fear the raid would be jeopardised.

But Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir said this view was "disquietening" and his country had a "pivotal role" in tackling terrorism.

Bin Laden was shot dead by US special forces in Abbottabad on Sunday.

On Tuesday the White House clarified the details of how the raid took place, saying Bin Laden was unarmed when he was killed after resisting capture.

US officials have said they are considering when to make public their photographs of his corpse.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's Dawn News television channel has said a meeting of senior al-Qaeda figures is taking place to name Bin Laden's successor as head of the organisation.

Bashir said Panetta was entitled to his views but that his country had co-operated extensively with the US.

He said the compound in Abbottabad where Bin Laden was shot dead had been identified as suspicious some time ago by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

But it took the greater resources of the CIA to determine that it was the al-Qaeda leader's hiding place.

On Tuesday, Pakistan's foreign ministry defended the ISI and issued a lengthy statement in which it expressed "deep concerns and reservations" about the US action.

It insisted unilateral action should not become the norm and stressed that Pakistani intelligence had been sharing information with the US in recent years.

"As far as the target compound is concerned, ISI had been sharing information with CIA and other friendly intelligence agencies since 2009."

Bin Laden, aged 54, was the founder and leader of al-Qaeda.

He is believed to have ordered the attacks on New York and Washington on 11 September 2001, as well as a number of other deadly bombings and was American's most wanted man.

The compound in which he was killed is just a few hundred metres from the Pakistan Military Academy - the country's equivalent of Sandhurst or West Point.

Two couriers and one woman died in the assault, while one of Bin Laden's wives was injured.

The US has not commented on anyone it captured or had planned to capture, other than saying it had taken Bin Laden's body, which was buried at sea.

However, the Pakistani foreign ministry statement said that the rest of Bin Laden's family are now "in safe hands and being looked after in accordance with the law".

US officials are discussing how and when to release pictures of Bin Laden's body to counter conspiracy theories that he did not die.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said the "gruesome" image could inflame sensitivities, but Panetta said there was no question it would at some point be shown to the public.