Obama to lay wreath at Ground Zero

US President Barack Obama was today set to visit Ground Zero in New York to pay tribute to the victims of the 9/11 attacks, just days after the death of terror mastermind Osama bin Laden.

US President Barack Obama was today set to visit Ground Zero in New York to pay tribute to the victims of the 9/11 attacks, just days after the death of terror mastermind Osama bin Laden.

A White House spokesman said the president would lay a wreath and meet relatives of those who died and members of the emergency services.

His visit comes a day after Mr Obama announced he will not release death photos of bin Laden as he believed their graphic nature could incite violence and create national security risks for the United States.

Separately, officials said the US Navy Seals who stormed bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan shot him dead after they saw him appear to lunge for a weapon.

Mr Obama, in an interview with CBS News last night, said bin Laden’s death had been well established and people who did not believe it would not be convinced by gruesome photos.

“It would be of no benefit to gloat, he said. ”There are going to be some folks who deny it. The fact of the matter is you won’t see bin Laden walking on this Earth again,“ he said.

On the Seals’ deadly encounter with bin Laden, the officials, who had been briefed on the operation, said several weapons were found in the room where the terror chief died, including AK-47 assault rifles and side arms.

The new word about the reason bin Laden was shot and killed rather than taken into custody came after changing White House accounts that raised questions about the rationale: first that bin Laden was armed, then that he was not.

The officials who gave the latest details also said that a US commando grabbed a woman who charged towards the Seals. The raiders were concerned she might be wearing a suicide vest.

Obama administration officials have said bin Laden’s body was identified by several means, including a DNA test.

Photos taken by the Seals show bin Laden shot in the head.

Mr Obama added in the interview: “It is important for us to make sure that very graphic photos of somebody who was shot in the head are not floating around as an incitement to additional violence.

“I think that, given the graphic nature of these photos, it would create some national security risk.”

But some relatives of 9/11 victims said they believed it was important to document bin Laden’s death, as did some Arab sceptics who doubted his demise in the absence of convincing evidence.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said in a statement that Mr Obama’s decision was a mistake.

“The whole purpose of sending our soldiers into the compound, rather than an aerial bombardment, was to obtain indisputable proof of bin Laden’s death,” Mr Graham said.

“I know bin Laden is dead. But the best way to protect and defend our interests overseas is to prove that fact to the rest of the world.”

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