2 May 2016

CIA panned for Bin Laden death tweets

12:38 pm on 2 May 2016

The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has been criticised online for as-live tweeting the killing of Osama bin Laden as it happened five years ago.

Bin Laden

Osama Bin Laden was the leader of al-Qaeda and was killed by US forces in 2011. Photo: AFP

It has shared details of the mission and intelligence that led to America's most wanted man being found.

But reaction has been largely negative, with one Twitter user calling the move "grotesque and embarrassing".

Others posted memes and gifs of people rolling their eyes and putting their heads in their hands.

The CIA's other tweets mostly concern historical trivia and artefacts.

The leader of al-Qaeda, who was thought to have ordered the 9/11 attacks, was shot dead at a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan in May 2011 after evading capture by the US and its allies for nearly a decade.

The CIA's tweet announcing its plans to "live-tweet" the raid was favourited more than 2000 times on Twitter.

Some Twitter users thought it was inappropriate.

A few people offered messages of support.

- BBC

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