Jeremy Corbyn has been criticised for describing the killing of Osama bin Laden as a “tragedy”, after footage emerged of an interview he gave in 2011 shortly after the al-Qaeda leader was assassinated.

Tory MPs have rounded on the comments as a “frightening” indication of the world view of the man who looks set to win the Labour leadership contest – but some have argued his comments have been taken out of context.

Introduced as an “outspoken rebel in the Labour party’s ranks” during an interview with the Iranian Press TV channel’s The Agenda programme, Mr Corbyn can be heard being highly sceptical of the US Navy Seals’ operation in which Bin Laden and four others were shot dead in a Pakistan compound.

He criticises President Barack Obama and gives credence to conspiracy theories surrounding the killing, asking: “Why the burial at sea – if indeed there was a burial at sea – and indeed if it was Bin Laden?”

Osama bin Laden (Getty)

But he is most critical of the lack of any apparent effort to put Bin Laden on trial for his crimes, saying the solution “has got to be law, not war” – and it is that which he describes as a “tragedy”.

He says: “There was no attempt whatsoever that I can see to arrest him, to put him on trial, to go through that process.

“This was an assassination attempt, and is yet another tragedy, upon a tragedy, upon a tragedy.

“The World Trade Center was a tragedy, the attack on Afghanistan was a tragedy, the war in Iraq was a tragedy. Tens of thousands of people have died. Torture has come back on to the world stage, been canonised virtually into law by Guantanamo and Bagram.

"Can't we learn some lessons from this? That we are just going to descend deeper and deeper…”

He said the “next stage” after assassinating Bin Laden would be “an attempted assassination on [Colonel] Gaddafi”, adding that “this will just make the world more dangerous and worse and worse and worse”. Gaddafi was killed later in 2011 after the overthrow of his Libyan regime.

There has been a mixed reaction to Mr Corbyn’s comments from the public, with one Twitter user saying the MP’s “views on Bin Laden are nuanced and have been taken slightly out of context”.

But the Conservative MP Nadhim Zahawi told the Daily Mail: “Osama bin Laden was a terrorist who any sensible human being in the world would want either killed or arrested. For him to call this a tragedy and appear to compare it to what happened on 9/11 is frightening.”

Corbyn’s approach to foreign policy has faced recent criticism from both within and beyond the Labour party.

Labour leadership: The Contenders Show all 4 1 /4 Labour leadership: The Contenders Labour leadership: The Contenders Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Corbyn started off as the rank outsider in the race to replace Ed Miliband and admitted he was only standing to ensure the left of the party was given a voice in the contest. But the Islington North MP, who first entered Parliament in 1983, is now the firm favourite to be elected Labour leader on September 12 after a surge in left-wing supporters signing up for a vote. PA Labour leadership: The Contenders Liz Kendall Liz Kendall has been labelled the Blairite candidate throughout the contest, which partly explains why she has failed to attract the support needed in a party that has drifted even further from the centre-ground of British politics since the election. She has faced criticism over her relative lack of experience, having only served as an MP since 2010 and having no experience of ministerial or shadow cabinet roles. But that very lack of experience allowed her to initially make a pitch as the only candidate offering real change and a real break from the Blair/Brown/Miliband years, until Jeremy Corbyn entered the race and shifted the whole debate to the left. She is set to finish a disappointing fourth. PA Labour leadership: The Contenders Andy Burnham Andy Burnham started out as the front-runner in the leadership election, seen as the candidate of the left until Jeremy Corbyn entered the race. The former Cabinet minister has found himself squeezed between the growing populism of Corbyn’s radical agenda and the moderate, centre-left Yvette Cooper, not knowing which way to turn. It has attracted damaging labels such as ‘flip-flop Andy’, most notably over his response to the Government’s Welfare Bill. He remains hopeful he can win enough second preference votes to take him over the 50 per cent threshold ahead of Corbyn. PA Labour leadership: The Contenders Yvette Cooper.jpg Yvette Cooper has put her experience and achievements in government at the heart of her offer to the Labour party. She played a key part in setting up Sure Start in Tony Blair’s government and has pledged to continue her record on delivering for young families by promising a “revolution in the way families are supported” by introducing universal free childcare. She has also championed her role as a full-time working mother, taking pride in telling audiences that she does the school run for the kids before her day starts as a politician. But she has been criticised for being too wooden and lacking in passion and her attacks on Liz Kendall for “swallowing the Tory manifesto” at the start of the leadership contest have been criticised for helping Jeremy Corbyn brand all three mainstream candidates as ‘Tory-lite’. PA

In his first major speech on the Labour leadership race, former Prime Minister Gordon Brown made a pointed reference to Mr Corbyn when he said: “If our global alliances are going to be alliances with Hezbollah and Hamas and Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela and Vladimir Putin’s Russia, there is no chance of building a worldwide alliance that could deal with poverty and inequality and climate change and financial instability.”

On Sunday night, George Osborne said Britain’s national security would be put at risk under a Corbyn-led Labour party, because of his opposition to the UK’s Trident nuclear deterrent.