Why was Osama bin Laden buried at sea?

Shortly after US troops killed terrorist leader Osama bin Laden in a Pakistani compound on May 1, 2011, the US took custody of his body and buried it at sea.

According to the New York Times, Bin Laden's body was "washed in accordance with Islamic custom, placed in a white sheet and then inside a weighted bag... Aboard the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson in the North Arabian Sea, a military officer read religious rites - translated into Arabic - and then the body was placed on a board, tipped up and eased into the sea."

The reason he was buried so quickly has to do with Islamic traditions and practices. It is customary to bury a body within 24 hours of death.

A US official was quoted that the government decided to bury him in the sea because no country wanted to accept his body (it is rumored they asked his birth country of Saudi Arabia if they wanted the body and they refused), and also the US worried if bin Laden had a physical gravesite, it would become a place of worship for his followers.

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