Bin Laden death photos gruesome, says Congressman

Washington: A US lawmaker, who was given the rare opportunity by the CIA to view the death photos of Osama bin Laden, has said the pictures were "pretty gruesome" and there was no doubt that the al-Qaeda chief was dead.

Senator James Inhoffe, a Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he was shown 15 photographs taken of bin Laden after the al-Qaeda leader was killed by US Special Forces in a raid on May 2 in Abbottabad in Pakistan.

"They're gruesome, of course, because it was taken right after the incident," Inhoffe, the first Congressman to view the death photos of bin Laden, told the Fox News in an interview.

Nine of the photographs were taken at the Abbottabad compound. Three were taken on a naval vessel from which bin Laden was buried at sea after the commando raid, Inhoffe said.

"By viewing these photos, I can help dispel conspiracy theorists who doubt that bin Laden is in fact dead," he said.

In another interview with CNN, Inhoffe said: "One of the shots went through an ear and out through the eye socket.

Or it went in through the eye socket and out -- then exploded," he said. "That caused the brains to hang out of the eye socket, so that was pretty gruesome."

They show bin Laden's body being washed and prepared for burial and then lowered into the sea, he said.

"They had taken enough blood and material off his face so it was easier to identify who it was," Inhoffe said. "Absolutely, no question about it. I've seen them. That was him. He's gone. He's history," he added.