US: Bin Laden was unarmed - photo is 'gruesome'

White House spokesman Jay Carney said this evening that Osama bin Laden was not armed when he was shot and killed by US commandos, but many others in his Pakistani compound did have guns.

"There was concern bin Laden would oppose the capture operation and indeed, he did resist," Carney told reporters.

Bin Laden's wife tried to rush the commandos as they stormed into the room in the Pakistani compound late Sunday where the Al-Qaeda leader was. She was shot in the leg, but not killed.

"Bin Laden was then shot and killed. He was not armed," Carney said, adding that several other people in the building were armed and there was a "volatile firefight."

He also warned that a photograph of Osama Bin Laden's corpse was "gruesome" and there was concern that it could be inflammatory if it was publicly released.

"It is fair to say it is a gruesome photograph ... it could be inflammatory,"  Carney said.

"We are reviewing the situation. We are going about this in a methodical way and trying to make the best call."

Carney added that senior administration officials were discussing whether it would be advisable to release the photograph of bin Laden after he was shot in the head by a US special forces soldier in a daring raid in Pakistan early on Monday.