Osama would have been taken alive if he had surrendered: US

Elite US commandos, who killed al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, would have taken him alive if he had surrendered, the White House has said, justifying the action to gun him down as "entirely appropriate."

"If Osama bin Laden had surrendered the US could have brought him into custody safely...," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters.

"But he was brought to justice on Monday. I think it's entirely appropriate, given the circumstances, that he was brought to justice in the way he was. The professionals on the ground put themselves at great risk and accomplished their mission," he said.

The American team "had the authority to kill Osama bin Laden unless he offered to surrender," he said.

Asked about Pakistan's claim that the raid was unlawful, Carney asserted, "The raid was entirely lawful."

54-year-old bin Laden was killed by US SEALS in a pre-dawn stealth operation at a million-dollar mansion in Abbottabad, a garrison town close to Pakistan's capital Islamabad.