News / International
Profile of Osama bin Laden, 'World now a better place without him'
05 May 2011 at 04:32hrs | Views
Bin Laden was born in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in 1957. He is the 17th child of a Saudi construction tycoon.
Bin Laden worked for his father's company before joining the US-backed Jihad, or "Holy War," against Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in 1979. There he founded the "al-Qaeda" military base camp and training center 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.
But bin Laden was stripped of Saudi citizenship for allegedly channeling funds for terrorism activities in 1994.
Since then, he has been living in Afghanistan. Pulling together several Islamic extremist organizations from different countries and regions, he turned the al-Qaida network into a nucleus in the campaign of driving Americans and Israelis out of Arab territories.
Bin Laden 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 is also considered the mastermind behind the September 11th attacks in the US in 2001.
He was on the US most wanted list of terrorists in 1999 with a reward of 5-million dollars.
Bin Laden denied involvement in any of the attacks.
Bin Laden worked for his father's company before joining the US-backed Jihad, or "Holy War," against Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in 1979. There he founded the "al-Qaeda" military base camp and training center 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.
Since then, he has been living in Afghanistan. Pulling together several Islamic extremist organizations from different countries and regions, he turned the al-Qaida network into a nucleus in the campaign of driving Americans and Israelis out of Arab territories.
Bin Laden 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 is also considered the mastermind behind the September 11th attacks in the US in 2001.
He was on the US most wanted list of terrorists in 1999 with a reward of 5-million dollars.
Bin Laden denied involvement in any of the attacks.
Source - Xinhuanet
