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In Pictures
Gallery
In pictures: Bin Laden’s life
Pictorial gallery on al-Qaeda’s top leader, the alleged mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks on the US.
Osama bin Laden gained international prominence following the 9/11 attacks on the United States.
Published On 2 May 2011
2 May 2011
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He was born in Saudi Arabia in 1957 to a wealthy family. But he lived in relative poverty later in life as he fashioned himself
He accused the US of waging war against Muslims, and allegedly masterminded a series of attacks against the US interests
His family, which became rich from the Saudi construction boom, disowned him, and he was stripped of his Saudi citizenship
A key influence on Osama was Abdullah Azzam, a Palestinian professor and member of the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood
He fought along with Afghhan mujahidins against the Russians with the backing from the US
Tall, gaunt and bearded, bin Laden was unhurt by a US bomb late in 2001 in the Tora Bora mountains in eastern Afghanistan
In 2007, the US senate doubled the reward for the death or capture of the al-Qaeda leader to $50m
Bin Laden was killed at a mansion in Abbottabad, which is just 200 metres from the Pakistan Military Academy
US official quoted by AP news agency said bin Laden(***)s body had been buried at sea, although this has not been confirmed