Osama bin Laden's sea burial rakes up fresh controversy

London: In a new twist to Osama bin Laden saga, emails leaked from an intelligence analysis firm say the body of the al Qaeda leader was actually sent to the US for cremation than buried in sea. According to the emails, bin Laden was shot and killed during the famous Navy SEAL Team Six raid on his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan and was transported back to the US and cremated.

The emails were allegedly obtained by the hacker group Anonymous from Stratfor, a private organisation dealing with analysis of intelligence and geopolitical analysis, the Daily Mail reported.

WikiLeaks has released the short emails exchanged within Stratfor on May 2, the day when then world's most wanted terrorist was shot dead.

Emails leaked from an intelligence analysis firm say the body of the al Qaeda leader was actually sent to the US for cremation.

Following bin Laden's killing, US had said his body was buried at sea in accordance with Islamic tradition.

However, Stratfor's vice-president for intelligence, Fred Burton has reportedly said he doubts the official White House version of what happened to Osama's body.

Burton, says the body was 'bound for Dover, [Delaware] on (a) CIA plane' and 'onward to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Bethesda (Maryland)', the paper said.

The claims are sure to stoke conspiracy theorists, especially since the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology that Burton refers to closed its doors on September 15, 2011, four months after bin Laden's death, it added.

In another email, Burton said: "If body dumped at sea, which I doubt, the touch is very Adolph Eichman like. The Tribe did the same thing with the Nazi's ashes".

In a February 27 statement, Stratfor said: "In December, thieves compromised Stratfor's data systems and stole a large number of company emails, along with other private information of Stratfor readers, subscribers and employees.

"Those stolen emails apparently will be published by WikiLeaks. This is a deplorable, unfortunate - and illegal - breach of privacy.

"Some of the emails may be forged or altered to include inaccuracies; some may be authentic. We will not validate either. Nor will we explain the thinking that went into them".

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