Bin Laden was reading about Church of England bishops

 Reuters

Among the documents found at the compound where Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011, was a list of profiles of Church of England bishops.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence declassified more than 100 documents and made them available to view on Wednesday, but the bishops' profiles were just listed as an item under 'other religious documents'.

No further information is available about the nature of the profiles or why bin Laden would have taken an interest in the upper echelons of the established Church.

The list of 'Other religious documents' found at the compound where Osama bin Laden was killed. ODNI

Another entry on the list was 'Muhammad in the Bible' and articles from Islamhouse.com , including two titled 'Was Jesus Crucified for our Atonement?' and 'The Resurrection'.

As well as personal letters to his family, bin Laden's reading material included copies of Foreign Policy magazine and Newsweek, as well as think tank studies analysing al-Qaeda's terrorism tactics, strategy and development.

An excerpt from a letter from bin Laden to his father dated July 2009. ODNI

He particularly showed an interest in articles and books about 9/11, both official US government documents and American conspiracy theories such as New Pearl Harbor: Disturbing Questions about the Bush Administration and 9/11 by David Ray Griffin.

And he had also collected numerous documents about France, including information about its economy, health service, and defence treaties.

Some of the more eclectic items found, which are thought to have been used by other people on the compound, include videogame guides, a book on art education and silkscreening instructions.

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