Obama on 9/11 trip: We will never forget

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US President Barack Obama paid solemn tribute at the site of the downed Twin Towers, days after 9/11 architect Osama bin Laden was shot dead by American commandos in his Pakistani lair.

Intel found in Bn Laden's compound revealed Al Qaeda was considering a possible train attack at an unspecified location in the United States as a grim marker of this year's 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

US officials played down any imminent threat, describing the plot as "aspirational", but it did perhaps indicate that Bin Laden remained more integral to the everyday running of Al Qaeda than previously thought.

In a moment of high symbolism in New York, Obama laid a wreath at ground zero before hugging relatives of those killed when Al Qaeda extremists, presumed to be acting on Bin Laden's orders, plowed their hijacked planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Despite the momentous nature of the Al Qaeda leader's death, almost a decade after his attacks drove a wedge between the West and the Muslim world, the ceremony was low-key and somber: a remembrance of those nearly 3,000 fallen rather than a victory celebration.

Obama, making his first visit to ground zero as President, did not make a speech, but solemnly bowed his head and observed a moment of silence after laying the wreath along with city officials.

He spoke earlier at a firehouse that lost 15 men battling the infernos on 9/11, issuing a stark message to America's enemies around the world.

"When we say we will never forget, we mean what we say," he said.

Obama is to visit Fort Campbell in Kentucky on Friday to meet some of the elite commandos, said to be from a renowned naval squad known as "Team Six", who sneaked into Pakistan in stealth helicopters and took out Bin Laden in the dead of night.

The president "will have the opportunity to privately thank some of the special operators involved in the operation," a US official said on condition of anonymity.

In Pakistan, where Islamists have significant popular support, the largest religious political party Jamaat-e-Islami called for protests across the country on Friday to denounce the killing of the Al Qaeda leader.

Hundreds of people took to the streets in the insurgency-riven city of Quetta near the Afghan border to pay homage to the slain extremist and call for holy war against America.

The crowd shouted "Long live Osama" and torched a US flag, while Abdul Qadir Looni — a senior figure in an Islamist party — told the rally: "Osama's services for Muslims will be remembered forever".

"He challenged the greatest Satan and usurper like America and awakened Muslims across the globe. This gathering pays tribute to him."

But reaction from the Muslim world to Bin Laden's death has so far been muted, in what analysts say is a sign the Al Qaeda founder has lost popularity, particularly among Arab youth who have turned to popular protest.

Pakistan's police and army again barred world media from reaching Bin Laden's house in Abbottabad — a leafy garrison town two hours' drive from the capital — on Friday, setting up checkpoints and deploying reinforcements.

"The presence of media was a hurdle in the investigation. There were also some security threats, so we sealed the neighbourhood again," district police chief Mohammad Kareem Khan told AFP.

In the Bilal Town suburb where the sprawling villa was located, people have spraypainted on walls: "Osama bin Laden Town".

After days of questions in Washington over how the 9/11 architect found shelter under military noses, Pakistan's military hit back with demands that the US cut its troop presence in the country to a "minimum".

Pakistan's Army Chief of staff General Ashfaq Kayani threatened on Thursday to "review" cooperation in the event of another US raid.

In a sign of complete US distrust of its key ally, CIA chief Leon Panetta has said Washington had kept Islamabad in the dark about the raid for fear of the Al Qaeda chief being tipped off.

Pakistan has admitted "shortcomings" in developing intelligence on Bin Laden's whereabouts and ordered an investigation, but is fighting to allay suspicions that Bin Laden had support from its military intelligence services.

Some US lawmakers have questioned billions of dollars in US assistance and accused Pakistan of playing a double game, but key leaders in Congress voiced support on Thursday for preserving aid.

"It's not a time to back away from Pakistan: it's time for more engagement with them, not less," House Speaker John Boehner told reporters.

The United States has given some $18 billion to Pakistan since the September 11, 2001 attacks, when the nuclear-armed nation officially ended support for Afghanistan's Taliban and agreed to work with the United States.

As Australia, a key provider of military training to Pakistan, hosted the chairman of Pakistan's joint chiefs of staff committee, defence minister Stephen Smith said the South Asian state should do more to combat terrorism.

"We believe that Pakistan has improved its efforts on the counter-terrorism and extremism front, but it does need to do more and I have made that point again to General Wynne," he said.

The Obama administration has been forced to defend the raid's legality after acknowledging Bin Laden was unarmed when he was shot dead.

The US Navy Seals who raided Bin Laden's compound found an AK-47 and a pistol in his room, a US official told AFP on Thursday.

"He had weapons in his room, more than one," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "He was not compliant. He did not surrender."

Giving more details of the raid after conflicting accounts from the White House, the official said the commandos encountered just one armed man at the compound — Bin Laden's courier — who opened fire near the start of the nearly 40-minute operation.

US media reported that the courier was killed along with his wife in a guest house adjacent to the main residence where Bin Laden was hiding.

At the larger three-storey building, the Americans shot and killed the courier's brother, who reportedly had one hand behind his back.

Making their way up the stairs, they saw Bin Laden's son, who "lunged" towards them and was killed, the New York Times reported.

On the third floor, Bin Laden was shot in the chest and head.

The official insisted the US team faced an array of potential dangers and were prepared for the possibility that the Al Qaeda mastermind and his comrades might be wearing suicide vests or have explosives planted ready to be triggered.

"It's important to see the context," he said.

"If you are going to a house where the people have been hostile, it's Osama bin Laden's house, and you see him in a room and he's not compliant — what would you do?"