Questions linger over bin Laden shooter

WASHINGTON, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- Will the actual killer of Osama bin Laden please stand up? Just when America thought the shooter who killed the terror mastermind had identified himself, the claim has already been contradicted by another ex-Navy SEAL.

Former Navy SEAL Robert O'Neill, 38, has now stepped forward to say that he was the man who fired the fatal bullets into bin Laden at his Pakistan hideout in 2011.

But his account of events diverges from a version by another man on the same mission, Matt Bissonnette, who has written about the operation in his book "No Easy Day." He claims a second, unnamed, commando, fired the fatal bullet as he stood near O'Neill. O'Neill says the commando missed the shot, and other colleagues confirm his account.

Bissonnette was careful yesterday not to slam O'Neill's account of the killing.

"Two different people telling two different stories for two different reasons," Bissonnette said in an interview on NBC, without going into detail.

"Whatever he says, he says. I don't want to touch that." he added.

Both men have been heavily criticized by the SEAL community, which believes in a code of silence and that members should not boast about accomplishments that could only have been possible in a team. O'Neill is scheduled to be interviewed on Fox News next week, and Bissonnette will be on "60 Minutes" to tout his second book.