A U.S. commando’s curt message to superiors signaled the end had come for the world’s most wanted terrorist: “Geronimo EKIA,” meaning enemy killed in action.

    Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaida leader who liked to pose with an AK-47 assault rifle in his hand or by his side, was discovered without a gun by the Navy SEALs who barged into his room and shot him dead.

    The White House on Tuesday gave a more complete picture of the assault — and corrected some key details from earlier official accounts — as the team that pulled off the storied raid in Pakistan briefed officials and rested back at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington.

    The administration possesses graphic images of bin Laden’s corpse, at least one of which is likely to be released, according to CIA Director Leon Panetta. Officials hope that doing so will quiet any doubts that bin Laden is indeed dead.

    Codenamed Geronimo after the Apache fighter of the late 1800s who was ultimately captured by the United States, bin Laden was buried at sea from an American ship scant hours after his death.

    White House officials initially suggested bin Laden had been holding a gun and perhaps firing at U.S. forces. The corrected account raised questions about whether the Americans ever planned to take him alive, or simply were out to kill him.

    The revised account of bin Laden’s final moments was one of many official details that have changed since he was killed Monday in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad. The White House misidentified which of bin Laden’s sons was killed — it was Khalid, not Hamza. Officials incorrectly said bin Laden’s wife died in gunfire while serving as his human shield. That actually was the wife of a bin Laden aide and she was just caught in crossfire, the White House said Tuesday.

    (SD-Agencies)

    (Special reports on P6,7)