CIA chief Leon Panetta said on Tuesday the agency would publish a postmortem photograph of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, killed by U.S. forces in Pakistan on Sunday.

U.S. Navy SEALs shot bin Laden in an apartment in Pakistan during a special operation. An unidentified woman and three men, one believed to be bin Laden's son, were also killed.

"The bottom line is that, you know, we got bin Laden and I think we have to reveal to the rest of the world the fact that we were able to get him and kill him," Panetta told NBC News.

"The government obviously has been talking about how best to do this, but I don't think there's any question that ultimately a photograph would be presented to the public," he said.

Meanwhile, White House spokesman Jay Carney said the photograph was "gruesome" and that it hasn't been decided yet whether to release it.

A DNA test proved that the corpse of the dead man belonged to bin Laden, who has topped the FBI's most wanted list for the past decade.

WASHINGTON, May 4 (RIA Novosti)