Osama bin Laden was born into one of Saudi Arabia's most prosperous families, but he left home in search of revolution, found a path of fanaticism, inspired a murderous organization that terrorized the West, and ultimately became the most wanted man in the world. The most intense manhunt in history finally caught up with bin Laden, whose money and rageful preaching inspired the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, which killed almost 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania, and ripped a hole in America's sense of security in the world.
Reviled in the West as the personification of evil, bin Laden was admired and even revered by some radical Muslims who embraced his vision of unending jihad against the United States and Arab governments he deemed as infidels. His actions set off a chain of events that led the United States into wars in Afghanistan, and then Iraq, and a clandestine war against extreme Islamic adherents that touched scores of countries on every continent but Antarctica. America's entire intelligence apparatus was overhauled to counter the threat of more terror attacks at home.
Bin Laden was killed in an operation led by the United States, President Barack Obama said Sunday, touching off scenes of jubilation at the site of the World Trade Center, in Washington and elsewhere. A small team of Americans carried out the attack in Pakistan, early Monday local time, and took custody of bin Laden's remains. Bin Laden's al-Qaida organization has also been blamed for the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa that killed 231 people and the 2000 attack on the USS Cole that killed 17 American sailors in Yemen, as well as countless other plots, some successful and some foiled.
Perhaps as significant was his ability — even from hiding — to inspire a new generation of terrorists to murder in his name. Most of al-Qaida's top lieutenants have been killed or captured in the years since Sept. 11, 2001, and intelligence officials in Europe and Asia say they now see a greater threat from homegrown radical groups energized by bin Laden's cause. As his years in hiding dragged on, he became less and less of a presence. Revolutions and upheaval in the Middle East and North Africa in recent months were largely inspired by young people seeking economic and political freedom, rather than bin Laden's radical vision of an Islamic caliphate ruled by Shariah law.
Al-Qaida is not thought to have provided logistical or financial support to the group of North African Muslims who pulled off the March 11, 2004, bombings in Madrid, Spain — which killed 191 people — but they were certainly inspired by its dream of worldwide jihad. Likewise, no link has been established between al-Qaida's leadership and the four British Muslim suicide bombers who killed 52 people in London on July 7, 2005, but few believe the attack would have taken place had bin Laden not aroused the passions of young Muslim radicals the world over.
The war in Iraq — justified in part by erroneous intelligence that suggested Saddam Hussein had both weapons of mass destruction and a link to al-Qaida — became a cauldron in which some of the world's next generation of terrorists honed skills. Al-Qaida took advantage of the chaos of post-Saddam Iraq — helping to drag the United States into a quagmire that led to the death of some 5,000 American troops, and many scores of thousands of Iraqis. Indeed, bin Laden's legacy is a world still very much on edge.
Terms like dirty bomb, full-body scan and weapons of mass destruction became staples of the global vocabulary; and others like Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and extraordinary rendition fueled a burning anger in the Muslim world. But long before bin Laden became the world's most hunted man, few believed fate would move him in that direction.
Bin Laden was born in Saudi Arabia in 1954. He became known as the most pious of the sons among his wealthy father's 54 children. Bin Laden's path to militant Islam began as a teenager in the 1970s when he got caught up in the fundamentalist movement then sweeping Saudi Arabia. He was a voracious reader of Islamic literature and listened to weekly sermons in the holy city of Mecca. Thin, bearded and over 6 feet tall, bin Laden joined the Afghans' war against invading Soviet troops in the 1980s and gained a reputation as a courageous and resourceful commander. Access to his family's considerable construction fortune certainly helped raise his profile among the mujahedeen fighters.
At the time, bin Laden's interests converged with those of the United States, which backed the "holy war" against Soviet occupation with money and arms. When bin Laden returned home to Saudi Arabia, he was showered with praise and donations and was in demand as a speaker in mosques and homes. It did not take long for his aims to diverge from those of his former Western supporters. "When we buy American goods, we are accomplices in the murder of Palestinians," he said in one of the cassettes made of his speeches from those days.
A seminal moment in bin Laden's life came in 1990, when U.S. troops landed on Saudi soil to drive Iraq out of Kuwait. Bin Laden tried to dissuade the government from allowing non-Muslim armies into the land where the Prophet Muhammad gave birth to Islam, but the Saudi leadership turned to the United States to protect its vast oil reserves. When bin Laden continued criticizing Riyadh's close alliance with Washington, he was stripped of Saudi citizenship.
"I saw radical changes in his personality as he changed from a calm, peaceful and gentle man interested in helping Muslims into a person who believed that he would be able to amass and command an army to liberate Kuwait. It revealed his arrogance and his haughtiness," Prince Turki, the former Saudi intelligence chief, said in an interview with Arab News and MBC television in late 2001. "His behavior at that time left no impression that he would become what he has become," the prince added.
The prince, who said he met bin Laden several times years ago in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, described him as "a gentle, enthusiastic young man of few words who didn't raise his voice while talking." Abdel-Bari Atwan, editor of Al-Quds al-Arabi, London-based newspaper, spent 10 days with bin Laden in an Afghan cave in 1996. He said bin Laden "touched the root of the grievances of millions in the Arab world" when he presented himself as the alternative to Arab regimes that have been incapable of liberating Arab land from Israeli occupation and restoring pride to their people. He said bin Laden and his followers never feared death. "Those guys spoke about death the way young men talk about going to the disco," Atwan said. "They envied those who fell in battle because they died as martyrs in God's cause." Still, bin Laden had a knack for staying alive.
After being kicked out of Saudi Arabia, bin Laden sought refuge in Sudan. The African country acceded to a U.S. request and offered to turn bin Laden over to Saudi Arabia in 1996, but his native country declined, afraid a trial would destabilize the country.
Back on familiar terrain in Afghanistan — allowed in by the government of Burhanuddin Rabbani — bin Laden and his al-Qaida network prepared for the holy war that turned him into Washington's No. 1 enemy. When the Taliban — who would eventually give him refuge — first took control of Kabul in September 1996, bin Laden and his Arab followers kept a low profile, uncertain of their welcome under the new regime. The Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar called bin Laden to southern Kandahar from his headquarters in Tora Bora and eventually through large and continual financial contributions to the isolated Taliban, bin Laden became dependent on the religious militia for his survival.
Source: AP
Reviled in the West as the personification of evil, bin Laden was admired and even revered by some radical Muslims who embraced his vision of unending jihad against the United States and Arab governments he deemed as infidels. His actions set off a chain of events that led the United States into wars in Afghanistan, and then Iraq, and a clandestine war against extreme Islamic adherents that touched scores of countries on every continent but Antarctica. America's entire intelligence apparatus was overhauled to counter the threat of more terror attacks at home.
Bin Laden was killed in an operation led by the United States, President Barack Obama said Sunday, touching off scenes of jubilation at the site of the World Trade Center, in Washington and elsewhere. A small team of Americans carried out the attack in Pakistan, early Monday local time, and took custody of bin Laden's remains. Bin Laden's al-Qaida organization has also been blamed for the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa that killed 231 people and the 2000 attack on the USS Cole that killed 17 American sailors in Yemen, as well as countless other plots, some successful and some foiled.
Perhaps as significant was his ability — even from hiding — to inspire a new generation of terrorists to murder in his name. Most of al-Qaida's top lieutenants have been killed or captured in the years since Sept. 11, 2001, and intelligence officials in Europe and Asia say they now see a greater threat from homegrown radical groups energized by bin Laden's cause. As his years in hiding dragged on, he became less and less of a presence. Revolutions and upheaval in the Middle East and North Africa in recent months were largely inspired by young people seeking economic and political freedom, rather than bin Laden's radical vision of an Islamic caliphate ruled by Shariah law.
Al-Qaida is not thought to have provided logistical or financial support to the group of North African Muslims who pulled off the March 11, 2004, bombings in Madrid, Spain — which killed 191 people — but they were certainly inspired by its dream of worldwide jihad. Likewise, no link has been established between al-Qaida's leadership and the four British Muslim suicide bombers who killed 52 people in London on July 7, 2005, but few believe the attack would have taken place had bin Laden not aroused the passions of young Muslim radicals the world over.
The war in Iraq — justified in part by erroneous intelligence that suggested Saddam Hussein had both weapons of mass destruction and a link to al-Qaida — became a cauldron in which some of the world's next generation of terrorists honed skills. Al-Qaida took advantage of the chaos of post-Saddam Iraq — helping to drag the United States into a quagmire that led to the death of some 5,000 American troops, and many scores of thousands of Iraqis. Indeed, bin Laden's legacy is a world still very much on edge.
Terms like dirty bomb, full-body scan and weapons of mass destruction became staples of the global vocabulary; and others like Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and extraordinary rendition fueled a burning anger in the Muslim world. But long before bin Laden became the world's most hunted man, few believed fate would move him in that direction.
Bin Laden was born in Saudi Arabia in 1954. He became known as the most pious of the sons among his wealthy father's 54 children. Bin Laden's path to militant Islam began as a teenager in the 1970s when he got caught up in the fundamentalist movement then sweeping Saudi Arabia. He was a voracious reader of Islamic literature and listened to weekly sermons in the holy city of Mecca. Thin, bearded and over 6 feet tall, bin Laden joined the Afghans' war against invading Soviet troops in the 1980s and gained a reputation as a courageous and resourceful commander. Access to his family's considerable construction fortune certainly helped raise his profile among the mujahedeen fighters.
At the time, bin Laden's interests converged with those of the United States, which backed the "holy war" against Soviet occupation with money and arms. When bin Laden returned home to Saudi Arabia, he was showered with praise and donations and was in demand as a speaker in mosques and homes. It did not take long for his aims to diverge from those of his former Western supporters. "When we buy American goods, we are accomplices in the murder of Palestinians," he said in one of the cassettes made of his speeches from those days.
A seminal moment in bin Laden's life came in 1990, when U.S. troops landed on Saudi soil to drive Iraq out of Kuwait. Bin Laden tried to dissuade the government from allowing non-Muslim armies into the land where the Prophet Muhammad gave birth to Islam, but the Saudi leadership turned to the United States to protect its vast oil reserves. When bin Laden continued criticizing Riyadh's close alliance with Washington, he was stripped of Saudi citizenship.
"I saw radical changes in his personality as he changed from a calm, peaceful and gentle man interested in helping Muslims into a person who believed that he would be able to amass and command an army to liberate Kuwait. It revealed his arrogance and his haughtiness," Prince Turki, the former Saudi intelligence chief, said in an interview with Arab News and MBC television in late 2001. "His behavior at that time left no impression that he would become what he has become," the prince added.
The prince, who said he met bin Laden several times years ago in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, described him as "a gentle, enthusiastic young man of few words who didn't raise his voice while talking." Abdel-Bari Atwan, editor of Al-Quds al-Arabi, London-based newspaper, spent 10 days with bin Laden in an Afghan cave in 1996. He said bin Laden "touched the root of the grievances of millions in the Arab world" when he presented himself as the alternative to Arab regimes that have been incapable of liberating Arab land from Israeli occupation and restoring pride to their people. He said bin Laden and his followers never feared death. "Those guys spoke about death the way young men talk about going to the disco," Atwan said. "They envied those who fell in battle because they died as martyrs in God's cause." Still, bin Laden had a knack for staying alive.
After being kicked out of Saudi Arabia, bin Laden sought refuge in Sudan. The African country acceded to a U.S. request and offered to turn bin Laden over to Saudi Arabia in 1996, but his native country declined, afraid a trial would destabilize the country.
Back on familiar terrain in Afghanistan — allowed in by the government of Burhanuddin Rabbani — bin Laden and his al-Qaida network prepared for the holy war that turned him into Washington's No. 1 enemy. When the Taliban — who would eventually give him refuge — first took control of Kabul in September 1996, bin Laden and his Arab followers kept a low profile, uncertain of their welcome under the new regime. The Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar called bin Laden to southern Kandahar from his headquarters in Tora Bora and eventually through large and continual financial contributions to the isolated Taliban, bin Laden became dependent on the religious militia for his survival.
Source: AP
Bin Laden’s death
draws cheers, relief, dismay
KABUL, May 2 (AP): Osama bin Laden's death drew a mix of celebration and relief from his enemies around the world, shock among his followers and warnings that his demise would not bring an end to terrorist attacks. Spontaneous, celebratory rallies broke out in New York City at ground zero, where the World Trade Center towers fell on Sept. 11, 2001 and outside the White House where President Barack Obama announced bin Laden's slaying in a helicopter raid in Pakistan. "This is justice," Filipino Cookie Micaller said in the Philippine capital, Manila, where she wept and remembered her sister who perished at the World Trade Center. She added that terrorist attacks probably would continue: "I don't think this is going to stop." Hardline followers and sympathizers of Bin Laden expressed shock and dismay or vowed revenge.
"My heart is broken," Mohebullah, a Taliban fighter-turned-farmer in Ghazni province of eastern Afghanistan, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "In the past, we heard a lot of rumors about his death, but if he did die, it is a disaster and a black day." Salah Anani, a Palestinian-Jordan militant leader accused of links to al-Qaida, said "There will be soon be another leader."
"Obama, the killer, bragged about his so-called victory, but because he has a dead heart, he couldn't hide the fear of what's coming," he said. A top al-Qaida ideologue going by the online name "Assad al-Jihad2" posted on extremist websites a long eulogy for bin Laden and promised to "avenge the killing of the Sheik of Islam." U.S. embassies and Americans across the globe were on alert for possible reprisals over the death of the man who masterminded the Sept. 11 attacks. Other Western countries also called for vigilance. Germany Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said a "backlash" from al-Qaida sympathizers could not be ruled out, while British diplomatic missions were advised to review their security, remain vigilant and avoid demonstrations and large crowds of people. "The world's most wanted international terrorist is no more, but the death of bin Laden does not represent the demise of al-Qaida affiliates and those inspired by al-Qaida, who have and will continue to engage in terrorist attacks around the world," said Ronald Noble, the head of international police agency Interpol.
World leaders congratulated the U.S. and Obama for the strike against bin Laden as a severe blow to al-Qaida, though many noted it would only weaken, not end, terrorism. French President Nicolas Sarkozy hailed "the tenacity of the United States" in its 10-year hunt for the al-Qaida leader while Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi called his death a "great result in the fight against evil."
KABUL, May 2 (AP): Osama bin Laden's death drew a mix of celebration and relief from his enemies around the world, shock among his followers and warnings that his demise would not bring an end to terrorist attacks. Spontaneous, celebratory rallies broke out in New York City at ground zero, where the World Trade Center towers fell on Sept. 11, 2001 and outside the White House where President Barack Obama announced bin Laden's slaying in a helicopter raid in Pakistan. "This is justice," Filipino Cookie Micaller said in the Philippine capital, Manila, where she wept and remembered her sister who perished at the World Trade Center. She added that terrorist attacks probably would continue: "I don't think this is going to stop." Hardline followers and sympathizers of Bin Laden expressed shock and dismay or vowed revenge.
"My heart is broken," Mohebullah, a Taliban fighter-turned-farmer in Ghazni province of eastern Afghanistan, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "In the past, we heard a lot of rumors about his death, but if he did die, it is a disaster and a black day." Salah Anani, a Palestinian-Jordan militant leader accused of links to al-Qaida, said "There will be soon be another leader."
"Obama, the killer, bragged about his so-called victory, but because he has a dead heart, he couldn't hide the fear of what's coming," he said. A top al-Qaida ideologue going by the online name "Assad al-Jihad2" posted on extremist websites a long eulogy for bin Laden and promised to "avenge the killing of the Sheik of Islam." U.S. embassies and Americans across the globe were on alert for possible reprisals over the death of the man who masterminded the Sept. 11 attacks. Other Western countries also called for vigilance. Germany Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said a "backlash" from al-Qaida sympathizers could not be ruled out, while British diplomatic missions were advised to review their security, remain vigilant and avoid demonstrations and large crowds of people. "The world's most wanted international terrorist is no more, but the death of bin Laden does not represent the demise of al-Qaida affiliates and those inspired by al-Qaida, who have and will continue to engage in terrorist attacks around the world," said Ronald Noble, the head of international police agency Interpol.
World leaders congratulated the U.S. and Obama for the strike against bin Laden as a severe blow to al-Qaida, though many noted it would only weaken, not end, terrorism. French President Nicolas Sarkozy hailed "the tenacity of the United States" in its 10-year hunt for the al-Qaida leader while Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi called his death a "great result in the fight against evil."
Zawahri most likely to succeed Osama bin Laden
Islamabad, May 2 (Reuters): Egyptian-born doctor and surgeon Ayman al-Zawahri is al-Qaida's second-in-command. Zawahri has been the brains behind bin Laden and his al-Qaida network, and at times its most public face, repeatedly denouncing the United States and its allies in video messages. In the latest monitored by the SITE Intelligence Group last month, he urged Muslims to fight NATO and American forces in Libya.
"I want to direct the attention of our Muslim brothers in Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and the rest of the Muslim countries, that if the Americans and the NATO forces enter Libya then their neighbours in Egypt and Tunisia and Algeria and the rest of the Muslim countries should rise up and fight both the mercenaries of Gaddafi and the rest of NATO," Zawahri said. Born into an upper-class family of scholars and doctors in an upscale Cairo neighbourhood, the cerebral Egyptian in his late-50s is second after bin Laden on the FBI "most wanted terrorists" list.
Both bin laden and Zawahiri eluded capture when U.S.-led forces toppled Afghanistan's Taliban government in late 2001 after al-Qaida's Sept. 11 attacks on U.S. cities. But on Sunday bin Laden was killed in a firefight with U.S. forces and his body was recovered, U.S. President Barack Obama said. There was no word on Zawahri. Bespectacled, with grey hair and a grey beard, Zawahri won prominence in Nov. 2008, when he attacked then U.S. President-elect Obama as a "house Negro," a racially-charged term used by 1960s black American Muslim leader Malcolm X to describe black slaves loyal to white masters.
In a subsequent video, in Sept. 2009, Zawahri returned to the attack on Obama, saying he was no different from his predecessor George W. Bush. "America has come with a new deceptive face ... It plants the same dagger as Bush and his predecessors did. Obama has resorted to the policies of his predecessors in lying and selling illusions," said Zawahri, clad in white robe and turban. Like bin Laden, Zawahri has long been thought to be hiding along the rugged Afghan-Pakistan border.
"I want to direct the attention of our Muslim brothers in Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and the rest of the Muslim countries, that if the Americans and the NATO forces enter Libya then their neighbours in Egypt and Tunisia and Algeria and the rest of the Muslim countries should rise up and fight both the mercenaries of Gaddafi and the rest of NATO," Zawahri said. Born into an upper-class family of scholars and doctors in an upscale Cairo neighbourhood, the cerebral Egyptian in his late-50s is second after bin Laden on the FBI "most wanted terrorists" list.
Both bin laden and Zawahiri eluded capture when U.S.-led forces toppled Afghanistan's Taliban government in late 2001 after al-Qaida's Sept. 11 attacks on U.S. cities. But on Sunday bin Laden was killed in a firefight with U.S. forces and his body was recovered, U.S. President Barack Obama said. There was no word on Zawahri. Bespectacled, with grey hair and a grey beard, Zawahri won prominence in Nov. 2008, when he attacked then U.S. President-elect Obama as a "house Negro," a racially-charged term used by 1960s black American Muslim leader Malcolm X to describe black slaves loyal to white masters.
In a subsequent video, in Sept. 2009, Zawahri returned to the attack on Obama, saying he was no different from his predecessor George W. Bush. "America has come with a new deceptive face ... It plants the same dagger as Bush and his predecessors did. Obama has resorted to the policies of his predecessors in lying and selling illusions," said Zawahri, clad in white robe and turban. Like bin Laden, Zawahri has long been thought to be hiding along the rugged Afghan-Pakistan border.
Timeline: Life of the al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden
1957- Osama bin Mohammad bin Awad bin Laden born in Riyadh, one of more than 50 children of millionaire businessman. There are conflicting accounts of his precise date of birth.
1976- Studies management and economics at university in Jeddah.
Dec 26, 1979- Soviet Union invades Afghanistan. From 1984, bin Laden is involved in Peshawar-based Services Office to support Arab volunteers arriving to fight Soviet forces.
1986- Bin Laden moves to Peshawar, begins importing arms and forms his own small brigade of volunteer fighters.
1988- Al Qaeda (The Base) is established as a magnet for radical Muslims seeking a more fundamentalist brand of government in their home countries and joined in common hatred of the United States, Israel and U.S.-allied Muslim governments.
1991- Bin Laden leaves Saudi Arabia and goes into exile, having opposed the kingdom's alliance with the United States against Iraq.
June 1993- Bin Laden family moves to expel Osama as shareholder in its businesses, which focus on construction.
April 9, 1994- Saudi Arabia, angered by bin Laden's propaganda against its rulers, revokes his citizenship.
May 1996- Bin Laden is forced to leave Sudan after U.S. pressure on its government, and goes to Afghanistan.
August 1996- Bin Laden issues a fatwa, or religious decree, that U.S. military personnel should be killed.
October 1996- U.S. brands bin Laden as a prime suspect in two bombings in Saudi Arabia which killed 24 U.S. servicemen and two Indians.
August 7, 1998- Truck bombs explode at U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam killing 224, including 12 Americans.
August 20, 1998- President Bill Clinton names bin Laden as America's top enemy and accuses him of being responsible for the Nairobi and Dar es Salaam bombings. U.S. launches missile strikes against what Clinton calls terrorist bases in Afghanistan and Sudan. One destroys a pharmaceutical plant in Khartoum, whose owner denies any affiliation with bin Laden.
October 12, 2000- Al Qaeda strikes at destroyer USS Cole, harbored at Yemeni port of Aden. Seventeen sailors are killed.
September 11, 2001- Three hijacked planes crash into major U.S. landmarks, destroying New York's World Trade Center and plunging into the Pentagon. A fourth hijacked plane crashes in Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 people are killed. In a video released later, bin Laden says the collapse of the towers exceeded al Qaeda's expectations.
September 17, 2001- U.S. President George W. Bush says bin Laden is "Wanted: Dead or Alive."
October 7, 2001- United States attacks Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, host to bin Laden and al Qaeda.
December 6, 2001 - Anti-Taliban forces capture bin Laden's main base in Tora Bora mountains of eastern Afghanistan.
September 10, 2002- Al Jazeera broadcasts what it says is the voice of bin Laden praising the 9/11 hijackers as men who "changed the course of history."
November 2002- Al Qaeda claims responsibility for three suicide car bombs in Kenya which blew up the Mombasa Paradise resort hotel, popular with Israelis, killing 15 people and wounding 80.
October 2004- Bin Laden bursts into the U.S. election campaign in his first videotaped message in over a year to deride Bush.
January 2006- Bin Laden's first public message for over a year is a bid to show he is still in command of al Qaeda.
September 2006- Bush vows "America will find you."
September 2007- Bin Laden issues first new video for nearly three years, telling U.S. it is vulnerable despite its power.
May 18, 2008- Bin Laden urges Muslims to break the Israeli-led blockade of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, and fight Arab governments that deal with Israel.
January 24, 2010- Bin Laden claims responsibility for the failed December 25 bombing of a U.S.-bound plane in an audio tape and vows to continue attacks on the United States.
March 25, 2010- Bin Laden threatens al Qaeda will kill any Americans it takes prisoner if accused September 11 planner Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, held by United States, is put to death, according to an audiotape aired on al Jazeera.
January 21, 2011- Bin Laden says in an audio recording that the release of French hostages held in Niger by al Qaeda depends on France's soldiers leaving Muslim lands.
May 2, 2011- Osama bin Laden is killed in a million-dollar compound in the resort of Abbottabad, 60 km (35 miles) north of the Pakistani capital Islamabad.
Source: Reuters
1976- Studies management and economics at university in Jeddah.
Dec 26, 1979- Soviet Union invades Afghanistan. From 1984, bin Laden is involved in Peshawar-based Services Office to support Arab volunteers arriving to fight Soviet forces.
1986- Bin Laden moves to Peshawar, begins importing arms and forms his own small brigade of volunteer fighters.
1988- Al Qaeda (The Base) is established as a magnet for radical Muslims seeking a more fundamentalist brand of government in their home countries and joined in common hatred of the United States, Israel and U.S.-allied Muslim governments.
1991- Bin Laden leaves Saudi Arabia and goes into exile, having opposed the kingdom's alliance with the United States against Iraq.
June 1993- Bin Laden family moves to expel Osama as shareholder in its businesses, which focus on construction.
April 9, 1994- Saudi Arabia, angered by bin Laden's propaganda against its rulers, revokes his citizenship.
May 1996- Bin Laden is forced to leave Sudan after U.S. pressure on its government, and goes to Afghanistan.
August 1996- Bin Laden issues a fatwa, or religious decree, that U.S. military personnel should be killed.
October 1996- U.S. brands bin Laden as a prime suspect in two bombings in Saudi Arabia which killed 24 U.S. servicemen and two Indians.
August 7, 1998- Truck bombs explode at U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam killing 224, including 12 Americans.
August 20, 1998- President Bill Clinton names bin Laden as America's top enemy and accuses him of being responsible for the Nairobi and Dar es Salaam bombings. U.S. launches missile strikes against what Clinton calls terrorist bases in Afghanistan and Sudan. One destroys a pharmaceutical plant in Khartoum, whose owner denies any affiliation with bin Laden.
October 12, 2000- Al Qaeda strikes at destroyer USS Cole, harbored at Yemeni port of Aden. Seventeen sailors are killed.
September 11, 2001- Three hijacked planes crash into major U.S. landmarks, destroying New York's World Trade Center and plunging into the Pentagon. A fourth hijacked plane crashes in Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 people are killed. In a video released later, bin Laden says the collapse of the towers exceeded al Qaeda's expectations.
September 17, 2001- U.S. President George W. Bush says bin Laden is "Wanted: Dead or Alive."
October 7, 2001- United States attacks Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, host to bin Laden and al Qaeda.
December 6, 2001 - Anti-Taliban forces capture bin Laden's main base in Tora Bora mountains of eastern Afghanistan.
September 10, 2002- Al Jazeera broadcasts what it says is the voice of bin Laden praising the 9/11 hijackers as men who "changed the course of history."
November 2002- Al Qaeda claims responsibility for three suicide car bombs in Kenya which blew up the Mombasa Paradise resort hotel, popular with Israelis, killing 15 people and wounding 80.
October 2004- Bin Laden bursts into the U.S. election campaign in his first videotaped message in over a year to deride Bush.
January 2006- Bin Laden's first public message for over a year is a bid to show he is still in command of al Qaeda.
September 2006- Bush vows "America will find you."
September 2007- Bin Laden issues first new video for nearly three years, telling U.S. it is vulnerable despite its power.
May 18, 2008- Bin Laden urges Muslims to break the Israeli-led blockade of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, and fight Arab governments that deal with Israel.
January 24, 2010- Bin Laden claims responsibility for the failed December 25 bombing of a U.S.-bound plane in an audio tape and vows to continue attacks on the United States.
March 25, 2010- Bin Laden threatens al Qaeda will kill any Americans it takes prisoner if accused September 11 planner Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, held by United States, is put to death, according to an audiotape aired on al Jazeera.
January 21, 2011- Bin Laden says in an audio recording that the release of French hostages held in Niger by al Qaeda depends on France's soldiers leaving Muslim lands.
May 2, 2011- Osama bin Laden is killed in a million-dollar compound in the resort of Abbottabad, 60 km (35 miles) north of the Pakistani capital Islamabad.
Source: Reuters
