Who shot Bin Laden? Media feud among Navy SEALs

US: A new version of the events surrounding the killing of Osama bin Laden was unveiled sharply contradicting earlier claims by a Navy SEAL who said he pulled the trigger.

Esquire magazine published a long interview in February with a man identified only as "the shooter" who said he had shot the Al-qaeda leader twice in the head on the night of the May 1, 2011 raid on his Pakistan hideout.

The commando said he had been alone when he entered bin Laden's third floor room in his Abbottabad hideout. But CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen, an Al-qaeda expert, dismissed that account as completely false.

A SEAL Team 6 member interviewed by Bergen told him three SEALs out of the 23-strong team were the first to make it to the top floor of the compound, including "the shooter" and "the point man."

The third was Matt Bissonette, who published his "No Easy Day" book last year about the raid under the pen name Mark Owen.

- DECCAN HERALD