Osama's two wives and four children in custody

Two wives and four children of al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden have been taken into custody after he was killed by US special force's commandos in Abbottabad in Pakistan.

Two women and four children, described as bin Laden's wives and offspring, were taken away from the compound, local media reports said.

However it was not immediately known under whose custody they are currently in.

The operation by the elite Navy seals resulted in the death of bin Laden, one of his sons, two suspected couriers and a woman who was being used as a human shield.

Pakistani troops have sealed off the compound and blocked all roads leading to it. Local residents said the compound was bought by a man they knew as Arshad Khan, believed to a resident of Charsadda in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa tribal region.

A two-storey building was constructed in the compound in 2005 and those living inside did not mingle with local residents of the area near Abbottabad, 120 kms from Pakistan's capital Islamabad.