Bin Laden bent on spectacular US attack until the end: Files

May 20, 2015 20:00

Hunkered down in his Pakistani compound, Osama bin Laden pleaded with his followers to stay focused on attacking the US instead of being dragged into Muslim infighting.

Documents declassified today shed new light on the mindset of al-Qaeda's founder, his debates over tactics, his anxiety over Western spying and his fixation with the group's media image.

"The focus should be on killing and fighting the American people and their representatives," Bin Laden wrote in one of the newly revealed documents. The letter was among thousands of files found by US Navy SEALs on May 2, 2011 when they descended on Bin Laden's hideout in the garrison town of Abbottabad and shot him dead.

US intelligence agencies have now declassified more than 100 of these documents taken from Bin Laden's archive, after lawmakers ordered the move and critics accused the CIA of withholding material. AFP was given exclusive access to the documents in advance of their release.

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