US officials have released documents found at Osama Bin Laden's secret compound in Pakistan during a raid in 2011.
Special forces killed the al-Qaeda chief during that operation and recovered the documents that officials have branded 'Bin Laden's Bookshelf'.
The house in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where Osama bin Laden was killed in a US raid was demolished in 2012. Photo: AFP
As well as Arabic correspondence, there are English language books by Bob Woodward and Noam Chomsky, and others on economic and military theory.
Among the documents appears to be an application to join the ranks of al-Qaeda, including questions about hobbies and a willingness to be a martyr.
He also had English language books on economic and military theory.
In one of the letters, Bin Laden instructs one of his deputies to tell "our brothers" that they must remained focused on fighting Americans.
Their "job is to uproot the obnoxious tree by concentrating on its American trunk, and to avoid being occupied with the local security forces," he writes.
The documents are being released in the wake of President Obama's calls for greater transparency, said Jeffrey Anchukaitis, a spokesman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).
A "rigorous" review had taken place before the spy agency ordered the release of the documents.
"The intelligence community will be reviewing hundreds more documents in the near future for possible declassification and release," Mr Anchukaitis said.
- BBC
