Reuters Publishes Grisly Photos of Osama Raid

Reuters has released a series of photos it says were taken in the aftermath of the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound. Among them are gruesome images of three dead men, though not of bin Laden. The news agency says it bought them from a Pakistani security official who entered after US forces left with bin Laden's body. "Reuters is confident of the authenticity of the purchased images because details in the photos appear to show a wrecked helicopter from the assault, matching details from photos taken independently on Monday," the agency writes.

The development comes after President Obama decided not to release an image of bin Laden's corpse. In a statement to the Huffington Post, Reuters defends its decision: "As this is a story of global importance, Reuters chose to share these photographs with its media clients and allow them to make editorial decisions on how they were used." BIG WARNING: The images are extremely graphic. To see them, go to the Guardian or to Reuters. (More Osama bin Laden stories.)