BEIJING, 2 MAY, 2011 - US President Barack Obama announced Sunday night that al-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden has been killed by US military operation and is confirmed dead. The following is a profile of Osama, reports Xinhua news agency.
Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, a Saudi-born multimillionaire, was branded by Washington as the "prime suspect" behind the Sept 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States and wanted "dead or alive." Since then, he was seen as face of global terrorism.
Osama, born in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in 1957, is the 17th child of a Saudi construction tycoon whose family dominated housing and civil engineering in Saudi Arabia.
Osama, educated in Jeddah as a civil engineer, was a giant in the construction sector in his own right. He has an estimated fortune of US$400 million.
Osama worked for his father's company before joining in 1979 the US-backed Jihad, or "Holy War," against Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, where he founded the "al-Qaeda" military base camp and training centre in 1988.
He moved to Saudi Arabia after Soviet troops pulled out of Afghanistan in 1989 and left in the following year for Yemen in disappointment as Saudi Arabia allowed US troops in to attack Iraq in the Gulf War. He went to Sudan after the end of the Gulf War.
Stripped of Saudi citizenship for allegedly channeling fund for terrorism activities in 1994, Osama has since been living in Afghanistan. Pulling together several Islamic extremist organizations from different countries and regions, he turned the al-Qaeda network into a nucleus in the campaign of driving Americans and Israelis out of Arab territories.
He was blamed by the United States for bomb attacks on US barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, in 1996, on American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and on a US warship in Yemen in 2000. He was on the US wanted list of terrorist in 1999 with a reward of US$5 million. Osama denied involvement in any of the attacks.
The United States stormed Osama's al-Qaeda network and its Taliban host in Afghanistan after declaring Osama as the prime suspect for the Sept 11 attacks in 2001.
-- Bernama.
Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, a Saudi-born multimillionaire, was branded by Washington as the "prime suspect" behind the Sept 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States and wanted "dead or alive." Since then, he was seen as face of global terrorism.
Osama, born in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in 1957, is the 17th child of a Saudi construction tycoon whose family dominated housing and civil engineering in Saudi Arabia.
Osama, educated in Jeddah as a civil engineer, was a giant in the construction sector in his own right. He has an estimated fortune of US$400 million.
Osama worked for his father's company before joining in 1979 the US-backed Jihad, or "Holy War," against Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, where he founded the "al-Qaeda" military base camp and training centre in 1988.
He moved to Saudi Arabia after Soviet troops pulled out of Afghanistan in 1989 and left in the following year for Yemen in disappointment as Saudi Arabia allowed US troops in to attack Iraq in the Gulf War. He went to Sudan after the end of the Gulf War.
Stripped of Saudi citizenship for allegedly channeling fund for terrorism activities in 1994, Osama has since been living in Afghanistan. Pulling together several Islamic extremist organizations from different countries and regions, he turned the al-Qaeda network into a nucleus in the campaign of driving Americans and Israelis out of Arab territories.
He was blamed by the United States for bomb attacks on US barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, in 1996, on American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and on a US warship in Yemen in 2000. He was on the US wanted list of terrorist in 1999 with a reward of US$5 million. Osama denied involvement in any of the attacks.
The United States stormed Osama's al-Qaeda network and its Taliban host in Afghanistan after declaring Osama as the prime suspect for the Sept 11 attacks in 2001.
-- Bernama.
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