Washington, May 3 (IANS) The Obama administration had already decided it would follow Islamic tradition of burial for Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to avoid offending devout Muslims, a media report said.
Osama bin Laden was killed in a top secret operation by US’ Navy SEALS in Pakistan’s Abbottabad city.
The US administration had concluded that bin Laden would have to be buried at sea within 24 hours, since no country would be willing to take the body and they also did not want to create a shrine for his followers, the New York Times reported.
So the Al Qaeda leader’s body was washed and placed in a white sheet in keeping with Islamic tradition.
On the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson, the body was placed in a weighted bag as an officer read prepared religious remarks, which were translated into Arabic by a ‘native’ speaker, the daily said quoting a senior Pentagon official.
The body then was placed on a prepared flat board and eased into the sea.
Only a small group of people watching from one of the large elevator platforms that move aircraft up to the flight deck were witness to the end of America’s most wanted fugitive, the daily reported.
