US Attorney General Eric Holder has asserted that the Navy SEALs raid on Osama bin Laden's Abbottabad hideout was not an assassination. The Attorney General said in an interview that the operation was a kill or capture mission and that bin Laden's surrender would have been accepted if offered. Holder said the special forces had acted in an appropriate way in the absence of any clear indication bin Laden had been going to surrender. He reiterated that the operation was legal, saying that international law allows the targeting of enemy commanders. The statement comes following bin Laden's family questioning why he was not captured alive.