'It was not an assassination'

Updated on: 13 May,2011 08:40 AM IST |
Agencies |

Says a defensive US after sons of Osama said the Abbottabad raid was 'criminal'

Says a defensive US after sons of Osama said the Abbottabad raid was 'criminal'

The Navy SEALs raid on Osama bin Laden's hideout was "not an assassination", US Attorney General Eric Holder has asserted, saying that al-Qaeda leader's surrender would have been accepted, if offered. The top US legal official said the operation was a "kill or capture mission".

"If there was the possibility of a feasible surrender, that would have occurred," he said. "But the protection of the US force was uppermost in our minds," he said. The remarks come a day after bin Laden's sons criticised the US for what they call "arbitrary killing".u00a0

Russia backs US
Russia has backed the US's right to kill Osama, saying it was an act of self-defence authorised by the UN. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, "After 9/11 attacks, the UN adopted a resolution recognising the US's right to self-defence, not subject to restrictions."u00a0u00a0Lavrov's interview was published the day Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari arrived in Russian to meet his counterpart Dmitry Medvedev, seeking closer alliance with Moscow.

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