Bin Laden used wife as human shield: US

Al-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden used a woman in his Pakistani compound as a human shield in a failed attempt to save his life during a raid by US covert forces, a top US official has said.

"There was family at that compound, and there was a female who was, in fact, in the line of fire that reportedly was used as a shield to shield Bin Laden from the incoming fire," said top counterterrorism official John Brennan.

Pressed on reports the woman shot dead by Navy SEALs during a firefight at a compound in Abbottabad in Pakistan was one of bin Laden's four wives, Brennan told a White House briefing: "That's my understanding."

Brennan said it was not entirely clear "whether or not Bin Laden or the son or whatever put her there or she put herself there" or whether the Al-Qaeda chief himself fired rounds during the exchange.

Brennan told reporters at the White House that Bin Laden was "engaged in a firefight" which erupted at the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan by US commandos, but said he was not sure whether the Al-Qaeda leader fired any rounds himself.

"From a visual perspective, here is Bin Laden who has been calling for attacks, living in this million-dollar-plus compound, living in an area that's far removed from the front, hiding behind women who were put in front of him as a shield," Brennan said.

"I think it really just speaks to just how false his narrative has been over the years, and so again looking at what Bin Laden was doing, hiding there while he's putting other people out there to carry out attacks, again, just speaks to, I think, the nature of the individual he was."

In addition to the woman, Bin Laden was killed by a bullet to the head and senior US officials said two brothers believed to be his couriers and one of his adult sons also perished in the raid.