US PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA has announced that photographs of Osama bin Laden’s dead body will not be released for fear that such a  move could inflame tensions.

American news broadcaster CBS reports that Obama said during an interview for “60 Minutes” that he had decided against the pictures being publicly released. CNN then reported that an administration official briefed by the White House confirmed the story.

Earlier today, a top Republican, who said he had seen the death photo of Osama bin Laden, claimed that releasing the picture publicly could endanger US forces in Afghanistan or elsewhere.

Republican House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers said the picture could inflame anti-US sentiments around the world and hamper intelligence cooperation with the United States. He added that conspiracy theorists would not be persuaded no matter what the US does.

Rogers released a statement Wednesday opposing release, as the White House debates whether to publish a picture described by several sources as gruesome. It shows part of the skull blown off, those sources say.

Meanwhile a US official says one consideration is that the photo shows brain matter.

Sources spoke on condition of anonymity because the photo is still part of a classified investigation.

Additional reporting by AP

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