A stock of documents found in the Pakistan compound where Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011 show that the al Qaeda leader warned jihadists against forming Isis, the very terrorist organisation that now controls large patches of Iraq and Syria, according to The Independent.

Instead, bin Laden advised jihadists to focus their attacks on America and American targets. He wrote one letter to armed men in North Africa and told them to stop “insisting on the formation of an Islamic State” and rather to attack US embassies and American oil companies.

Bin Laden also told al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula – the Yemeni affiliate of the group – to halt attacks on domestic targets and start launching attacks on American interests.

These letters and heaps of other documents found at the Abbottabad, Pakistan compound were released this week by US intelligence officials. Some of the documents were non-classified, while others were recently declassified.