أسامة بن لادن أسامة بن محمد بن عوض بن لادن
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Osama bin Laden co-founded Al-Qaeda in 1988 and claimed responsibility for the 1998 US embassy bombings in East Africa. US Navy SEALs killed him on May 2, 2011, in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Born on March 10, 1957, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to a wealthy construction family, he claimed responsibility through later tapes for directing the September 11, 2001 attacks, though he denied direct involvement.
Names, aliases, and relatives of Osama bin Laden — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
Osama bin Laden by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Osama bin Laden — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
Osama bin Laden’s father, Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden, was a billionaire construction magnate from Yemen, and his mother Hamida al Attas was Syrian. He was born on March 10, 1957, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He attended Al-Thager Model School in Jeddah, Brummana High School in Lebanon, and briefly Thomas Sprigg Wootton High School in Maryland. At King Abdulaziz University, he encountered Islamist teachings and the writings of Sayyid Qutb, which shaped his later ideology.
Bin Laden co-founded Al-Qaeda in 1988 to continue armed resistance after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan. He claimed responsibility for the 1998 US embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, which killed over 200 people. The September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were attributed to Al-Qaeda; bin Laden praised the attacks in videotapes but never formally claimed responsibility. He became the world’s most wanted man, with a US reward of $50 million, and avoided capture until he was killed on May 1, 2011, in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
Bin Laden married five times, including Najwa Ghanem from 1974 to 2001 and Amal al Sadah. He fathered at least 20 children, with seven listed in records: Saad, Omar, Hamza, Abd Allah, Khalid, Miriam, and Sumaiya. He had kidney disease and walked with a cane. His height of 6 feet 5 inches helped confirm his identity after death. He had lost several toes from an injury during the Soviet-Afghan War. His personal fortune, from his family’s construction business, was estimated at over $300 million.
The September 11 attacks defined Bin Laden’s legacy, reshaping US foreign policy and global counterterrorism efforts. He was killed in Operation Neptune Spear on May 2, 2011. His death did not dismantle Al-Qaeda, but his ideology persists through affiliated groups. His name is associated with the global war on terror and the September 11 attacks.
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A wall of memorable lines from Osama bin Laden — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
We Believe That the Biggest Thieves in the World and the Terrorists Are the Americans. the Only Way for Us to Fend off These Assaults Is to Use Similar Means. We Do Not Worry About American Opinion or the Fact That They Place Prices on Our Heads. We as Muslims Believe Our Fate Is Set.
This Place May Be Bombed and We Will Be Killed. We Embrace Death. the U.S. Only Loves Life. That Is the Big Difference Between Us.
I Have Already Said That I Am Not Involved in the September 11Th Attacks in the United States. as a Muslim, I Try My Best to Avoid Telling a Lie. I Had No Knowledge of These Attacks, nor Do I Consider the Killing of Innocent Women, Children and Other Humans as an Appreciable Act. Islam Strictly Forbids Causing Harm to Innocent Women, Children and Other People. Such a Practice Is Forbidden Even in the Course of a Battle.
We Are Against the American System, Not Against Its People.
Little-known facts about Osama bin Laden — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
Bin Laden never publicly claimed responsibility for the September 11 attacks, but he cheered them in videotapes. No intelligence agency has found definitive evidence he masterminded the attacks, though his role is widely assumed.
President Barack Obama announced that, acting on intelligence from the CIA, a US Navy SEAL unit killed Bin Laden at a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. After DNA tests confirmed his identity, his body was transported to the USS Carl Vinson and buried at sea on May 2, 2011.
He inherited a personal fortune estimated at over $300 million from his family’s construction business in Saudi Arabia.
After his death, investigators discovered he was a fan of anime and video games.
He fathered at least 20 children, though only seven are listed in records: Saad, Omar, Hamza, Abd Allah, Khalid, Miriam, and Sumaiya.
He had lost some toes from an injury during the Soviet-Afghan War.
Due to kidney disease, he walked with a cane in his later years.
His height of 6 feet 5 inches helped confirm his identity after death.
The only journalist to interview him three times between 1993 and 1997 was British reporter Robert Fisk.
Robert O’Neill, a US Navy SEAL who participated in the raid, is credited with firing the fatal shot. The weapon used was a Heckler & Koch HK416 assault rifle.
His father, Mohammed bin Laden, was a Saudi construction businessman.
His former sister-in-law, Carmen Bin Ladin, published The Veiled Kingdom 2004 and Inside the Kingdom 2005 about her experiences in Saudi society.
His computer records show that he spent his last months worrying about Al-Qaeda’s finances.
Among items found in his compound were American soft drinks like Coke and Pepsi, and European brands like Nesquik and Vaseline, which appeared contradictory to his anti-capitalist rhetoric.
The US State Department offered a reward of up to $25 million for information leading to his capture, later increased to $50 million.
He supported campaigns against accelerated climate change.
He was allegedly involved in the suicide bombing of the USS Cole near Yemen on October 12, 2000, which killed 17 US sailors.
He suffered from kidney disease and was on dialysis until the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
A look-alike puppet of him appeared in the French satirical show Les Guignols de l’info 1988.
His father was Yemeni and his mother Syrian.
Zaki Youssef portrayed Abu Jandal, bin Laden’s chief bodyguard, in the series The Looming Tower 2018.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Osama bin Laden.
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