Al-Qaida leader had major head wounds and 'is history', says James Inhofe, who believes less 'gruesome' pictures of body should be released

A US senator who was permitted to view secret photographs of Osama bin Laden's corpse has described "pretty grotesque" images of a badly mutilated body that leave no doubt the al-Qaida leader is dead.

Senator James Inhofe said he saw 15 pictures at the CIA headquarters in Virginia, some of which were taken immediately after Bin Laden was shot. They show the al-Qaida leader with large head wounds around the eye and ear. Inhofe described some of the pictures as "gruesome".

"One of the shots went through the ear and out through an eye socket, or through the eye socket and out through the ear and exploded, that was the kind of ordinance it was. That caused the brains to be hanging out of the eye socket," he told CNN.

Inhofe said that he had no doubt that the pictures were of Bin Laden, adding: "Absolutely no question about it. A lot of people out there say: 'I want to see the pictures,' but I've already seen them. That was him. He's gone. He's history."

Inhofe, a member of the Senate's armed services committee, has pressed the Obama administration to make public pictures of Bin Laden's body to challenge any claims that he is still alive.

However, after viewing the photographs, Inhofe hesitated to say they should all be released. Instead, he said three pictures taken aboard a ship after Bin Laden's body was cleaned for burial at sea were more acceptable for distribution.

"I still believe they should release these pictures, some of these pictures to the public," he said. "At least the ones during the cleanup period on the USS Vinson ... that's just a personal opinion."

The administration agreed to permit members of congressional armed services and intelligence committees to view the pictures amid the debate over their release.

However, concerns that Bin Laden's supporters may not believe he was killed have diminished with al-Qaida's acknowledgement that its leader is dead.