Bin Laden unarmed when shot in US raid

White House spokesman Jay Carney also said that a woman killed in the raid had not been acting as a human shield, as previously claimed, but was caught in crossfire.

He said, however, that one of bin Laden’s wives had been shot and wounded when she tried to rush the American troops as they burst into the family’s home.

At a daily Press briefing, Mr Carney insisted the US Navy Seal commandos had been prepared to take the al-Qaida terror group leader alive, but he had been “resisting” when he was shot dead.

Mr Carney acknowledged there had been inaccuracies in the original accounts of the raid given by US officials, saying they had given “a great deal of information in great haste”.

Meanwhile, Pakistan must answer questions about how it came to be harbouring bin Laden, Prime Minister David Cameron said yesterday – but he added it was not in Britain’s national interest to start a “flaming great row” on the issue.

The Prime Minister told MPs Pakistan had suffered more from terrorism than any other nation. He said: “It is in Britain’s national interest to recognise that we share the same struggle. We will continue to work with our Pakistani counterparts.”

However, he also said: “The fact that bin Laden was living in a large house in a populated area suggests that he must have had an extensive support network in Pakistan.

“We don’t currently know the extent of that network, so it is right that we ask searching questions about it. And we will.”

Mr Cameron warned that al-Qaida affiliates in Yemen and North Africa might try to show they could still operate effectively.

The WikiLeaks website claimed last week that a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay had warned that al- Qaida would unleash a “nuclear hellstorm” of revenge if bin Laden was ever captured or killed.

Mr Cameron spoke as British police investigated five London residents who were arrested under the Terrorism Act for suspicious behaviour close to the nuclear fuel processing plant at Sellafield, Cumbria, on Monday.

The Civil Nuclear Constabulary, who look after the site, stopped a van with five men in it at around 4.30pm. All five are thought to be in their 20s and from London. They were held overnight at Carlisle and taken to Manchester for questioning.