U.S. senator says bin Laden pic a fake

BOSTON, May 5 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., has admitted a picture he claimed to have seen of the dead Osama bin Laden was a fake.

Brown told reporters Wednesday he had seen a picture of the terrorist, killed in a raid by U.S. Navy Seals, saying, "I've seen the picture. He's definitely dead."

Brown said in a Boston Herald report Thursday learned the picture was a fake.

"The photo that I saw and that a lot of other people saw is not authentic," Brown said in a statement.

Brown did not name the source of the picture.

A Brown staff member said the senator got the picture from someone he considered to be "a reliable source."

Brown's statements he had seen the photograph of the dead terrorist came shortly after U.S. President Barack Obama said no photographs would be released.

"You know we discussed this internally. Keep in mind that we are absolutely certain this was him," Obama said in a "60 Minutes" interview to be aired on CBS Sunday. "We've done DNA sampling and testing. And so there is no doubt that we killed Osama bin Laden. It is important for us to make sure that very graphic photos of somebody who was shot in the head are not floating around as an incitement to additional violence.

"You don't trot out this stuff as trophies," Obama said.