Washington, May 21: Osama bin Laden had an extensive collection of porn videos, US officials confirmed yesterday as they released a large batch of files seized from the terrorist leader's Pakistani hideout.

The office of James Clapper, director of National Intelligence, said the pornographic material could not be made public, on grounds of taste. It was the first confirmation of previous reports that bin Laden's X-rated stash included "modern, electronically recorded video".

The 103 documents that were made public yesterday by Clapper's office contain correspondence to and from the terrorist, including emotional letters to his family. There were reports and spreadsheets, as well as a job application form for al Qaida recruits that asked: "Do you wish to execute a suicide operation?" and "Who should we contact in case you became a martyr?"

Recovered from bin Laden's home in Abbottabad on May 2, 2011, after he was killed in a US raid, the papers provide a fascinating insight into the state of mind of a man who appeared obsessed with attacking American targets and paranoid about security, but was also loving to his wives and children.

In one undated letter addressed to senior members of al-Qaida, bin Laden said that his fighters should stop "insisting on the formation of an Islamic state" and instead concentrate on "attacking the American embassies in ... Sierra Leone, Togo" and American oil companies.

Bin Laden was hugely concerned about the security of his group's messages in the cyber age. In a letter to his deputies, he writes that "the secrecy of the mujahideen does not allow (Internet) usage and couriers are the only way".

Other documents show a different side to the terrorist. In a paper entitled "My last will", bin Laden addresses one of his wives: "Every time I thought of you, my eyes would tear."

Bin Laden was also terrified that the Iranians would attack him. In a letter to a wife, Khairiah, he suggested that if she went to see an "official dentist" in Iran, where she was living, she must take out any fillings before she came to see him, as a tracking device may be hidden inside.

In a letter to an aide in 2010, before a visit by another wife, he writes: "Before Um Hamza arrives, it is necessary for her to leave everything behind, including clothes, books ... chips have been developed for eavesdropping so small they could be hidden inside a syringe. Iranians are not to be trusted."

Just one month before bin Laden was killed, his aides tried to reunite him with a beloved son, Hamza, who had been held under house arrest in Iran, according to the documents.

In a message dated April 2011 an al Qaida operative named "Mahmud" wrote to bin Laden describing efforts he was making to smuggle in his son, one of many children of the al Qaida leader.

"I have tried to find a way to send him to you on the main road, but I was not able to find one due to the intensified security procedures and searches," Mahmud wrote.

The letter was one of hundreds of documents seized by the commandos when they staged a daring raid on bin Laden's secret home in Abbottabad.

Hamza and other family members, including his mother Khairiyah, spent years in Iran, where they fled after the September 11, 2001 attacks and subsequent US military operation against al Qaida in Afghanistan.

In a message to his father dated July 2009, Hamza lamented that he "was separated from you when I was a small child, not yet 13. ... You might not recognise me when you meet me, as my features have changed."

"But what truly makes me sad," Hamza added, "is the mujahideen legions have marched and I have not joined them."

In his November 2010 letter, Mahmud described Hamza as "very sweet and good," but added that he appeared to have become depressed.

"He comes back to me asking me that he should be trained and participated in giving. He does not want to be treated with favouritism because he is the son of 'someone'... I promised him to plan some safe training for him: firing arms and with various weapons," Mahmud wrote.

Officials said it was unclear if Hamza bin Laden ever got a chance to see his father before the US raid. A US official said he did not know where Hamza is today, or if he even is still alive.

He is not believed to have been at the Abbottabad house when the raid took place, although a number of other relatives were there.

THE TIMES, LONDON, AND REUTERS