Osama bin Laden buried at sea: US official

Islamic practice calls for the body to be buried within 24 hours and finding a country willing to accept the remains would have been difficult, the official said.

WASHINGTON // A US official says Osama bin Laden has been buried at sea.

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Bin Laden used a family inheritance to build the global terrorist network that killed almost 3,000 people in September 11, 2011.

After bin Laden was killed in a raid by US forces in Pakistan, senior administration officials said the body would be handled according to Islamic practice and tradition. That practice calls for the body to be buried within 24 hours. Finding a country willing to accept the remains of the world's most wanted terrorist would have been difficult, the official said. So the US decided to bury him at sea.

The official, who spoke Monday on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive national security matters, did not immediately say where that occurred.