Osama Bin Laden was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on 10 March 1957. His father, Muhammed Awad bin Laden was a billionaire businessman with close ties with the Saudi royal family. Osama was born the only son of Muhammed and his tenth wife, Hamid al-Attas, the couple divorced soon after his birth. His mother then married Muhammed al-Attas, they had four children and Bin Laden grew up in the household with his three stepbrothers and one stepsister. He was raised as a devout Sunni Muslim, from 1968 to 1976 he attended the elite, secular Al-Thager Model School in Jeddah. During this time he married his first wife, Najwa Ghanem at Latakia in Syria He went on to study economics and business at the King Abdulaziz University. After leaving university, he joined Abdullah Azzam to fight the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan. In 1984, he collaborated with Azzam in forming Maktab al-Khadamat which helped funnel money, arms and fighters into Afghanistan. By 1988, Bin Laden had split from the movement over disputes with Azzam over whether Arabic fighters should be integrated with Afghan fighting units or not. Bin Laden returned to his native Saudi Arabia in 1990 as a hero of jihad who, along with his Arab legion, had helped bring down the mighty superpower of the Soviet Union. At the same time, Iraq invaded Kuwait, spreading widespread fear that they may invade Saudi Arabia as well, Bin Laden offered his services to the House of Saud to protect the country but they rejected his proposals instead inviting US and Coalition troops onto Saudi soil. Bin Laden was furious and he openly criticised the Saudi royal family.

He moved to Khartoum, Sudan in 1992, and continued verbally attacking King Fahd of Saudi Arabia. Bin Laden’s family were persuaded to cut off his monthly allowance of seven millions dollars. Bin Laden was now closely associated with Egyptian Islamic Jihad which made up the core of the Al-Qaeda. In 1995 the EIJ attempted to assassinate the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, with the result that the EIJ were expelled from Sudan. Bin Laden sought refuge with the Taliban in Afghanistan, forging a close relationship with Mullah Mohammed Omar. In 1998, Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri co-signed a fatwa in the name of the World Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders which declared the killing of North Americans and their allies, as the duty of every Muslim to liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and the holy mosque in Mecca. Osama bin Laden has claimed responsibility for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. After the attacks, the US issued an ultimatum to the Taliban to turn over Bin Laden, their subsequent refusal led to the US bombing campaign of Afghanistan However, Bin Laden was not killed nor captured but is believed to have escaped over the mountains into Pakistan after the Battle of Tora Bora. He remains at large, the only confirmed sightings of him are the videotapes that he himself has submitted to the Al Jazeera network. Claims are constantly made that pertain to the whereabouts of Bin Laden, although none have being definitively proven and indeed some have placed him in different places during overlapping time periods.

Russell Shortt is a travel consultant with Exploring Ireland, the leading specialists in customised, private escorted tours, escorted coach tours and independent self drive tours of Ireland. Article source Russell Shortt, http://www.exploringireland.net http://www.visitscotlandntours.com