Kiwi Rock scoops world on Bin Laden killing

Kiwi-raised actor "The Rock" broke the news of the death of Osama bin Laden before the press, if posts on his Twitter account are to be believed.

At 10.24pm Washington time on Sunday, he wrote: "Just got word that will shock the world - Land of the free ... home of the brave DAMN PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!"

The message was sent at about the same time Keith Urbahn, the chief of staff of former US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld, sent this: "So I'm told by a reputable person they have killed Osama bin Laden. Hot damn."

The tweets were about an hour ahead of the official announcement later on Sunday night by President Barack Obama.

The Rock - real name Dwayne Johnson - lived in Auckland before finding fame as a wrestler in America.

He followed his first message with another at 10.32pm Washington time which read, "FINALLY ..."

And at 10.36pm, he tweeted: "..couldn't have asked for a better birthday present."

The Rock was unavailable yesterday for comment on whether his tweets referred to the death of bin Laden and hasn't commented on that topic on Twitter or Facebook.

After the confirmation of the killing, Mr Urbahn tweeted: "My source was a connected network TV news producer. Stories about 'the death of MSM' [mainstream media] because of my 'first' tweet are greatly exaggerated."

- Staff reporter