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Human rights group raises questions about bin Laden killing

May 3, 2011, 7:24 GMT

Bangkok - A leading human rights group Tuesday questioned the killing of al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, who was shot by US soldiers in his hideaway in Pakistan and quickly buried at sea.

'If he wasn't shooting at the soldiers, the killing should be investigated,' said Brad Adams, Asia director of New York-based Human Rights Watch.

'At this point we don't believe the place Osama bin Laden was killed was an area of armed conflict, so law enforcement was required here,' Adams said in Bangkok at the launch of a Human Rights Watch report on last year's anti-government protests in Thailand.

Bin Laden was killed Monday in a Pakistani suburb by a task force of US Navy SEALs who were dropped onto the roof of his compound.

'On the face of it, it was a fire-first situation,' Adams said. 'People are saying that justice has been done, but justice has not been done. Justice is when you arrest someone and put them on trial.'

He acknowledged that an investigation was unlikely.

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