The Pentagon has released home videos of Osama Bin Laden, seized at the secret Pakistani compound where he was shot dead by US commandos.
The tapes show him watching himself on television, and preparing a video message addressed to the US.
At a news briefing in Washington, intelligence officials said Bin Laden had been actively leading al-Qaeda from the compound in Abbottabad.
In total, five videos were seized during Monday’s raid.
Rehearsals
In the first video, filmed in October or November 2010, Bin Laden is shown wearing a white skullcap and white robes as he speaks to the camera in the style of previous video addresses by the al-Qaeda leader.
There is no audio on the film, but Pentagon officials said it was a message to the United States.
Three other clips appear to be rehearsals for the video message, says the BBC’s Jonny Dymond in Washington.
It is the first such film to emerge since al-Qaeda released a video address from Bin Laden in 2007, says our correspondent.
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In another of the videos, Bin Laden is shown watching a programme about himself on Arabic language television.
He is shown sitting on the floor wrapped in what looks like a blanket or a coat, holding a remote control.
As he watches TV he strokes his beard, which appears much greyer than it does in the propaganda video.
In one scene, he watches a broadcast showing a picture of himself superimposed on a still image of the World Trade Center in flames after it was hit by hijacked planes.
There is nothing in the videos to place Bin Laden in the compound where he was killed.
But the clips’ release is part of the ongoing effort by the US administration to convince doubters that Osama Bin Laden was killed in last Monday’s raid, says our correspondent.
The US raid yielded the “single largest collection of senior terrorist materials ever,” a senior US defence official said on Saturday.
‘No kidney problems’
Officials are examining computers, DVDs, hard drives and documents seized from the Abbottabad home where Bin Laden may have hidden for up to six years.
A senior intelligence official told reporters at the Pentagon that Bin Laden had remained a key player in al-Qaeda, overseeing strategy and operations from his Abbottabad home.
“He was far from a figurehead, he was an active player,” the official said.
Meanwhile, Bin Laden’s Yemeni wife - who survived the raid on the compound - has said that he had recovered from his widely publicised kidney problems, Pakistani officials who are questioning her told the BBC.
A senior Pakistani official, who did not want to be named, also told the BBC that they had not received any request from Washington to extradite Bin Laden’s Yemeni wife to the US.
