Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was a Saudi Arabian-born Islamist dissident and militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda from 1988 until his death in 2011. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, he participated in the Afghan jihad against the Soviet Union and supported the activities of the Bosnian mujahideen during the Yugoslav Wars. Bin Laden is considered to have been the mastermind behind the September 11 attacks in the United States.
Some of the key events about Osama bin Laden
- 1971Established a construction company that became successful in Saudi Arabia
- 1979Supported Afghan mujahideen against Soviet forces
- 1979Joined the mujahideen forces in Afghanistan to fight against the Soviet occupation
- 1984Co-founded Maktab al-Khidamat to recruit and support Arab volunteers in Afghanistan
- 1988Formed al-Qaeda as an organization to continue jihad beyond Afghanistan
- 1988Founded Al-Qaeda, a militant Islamist organization
- 1989Returned to Saudi Arabia as a hero of the Afghan war
- 1990Offered to defend Saudi Arabia with his mujahideen fighters
- 1992Moved to Sudan and invested in agriculture and infrastructure projects
- 1992Claimed responsibility for bombing a hotel in Yemen that killed two people
- 1996Issued his first fatwa calling for action against perceived injustices
- 1996Issued a fatwa calling for attacks on US military personnel
- 1998Formed the "World Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders"
- 1998Orchestrated the bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing 224 people
- 2000Planned the attack on the USS Cole in Yemen, killing 17 US sailors
- 2001Became a globally recognized figure, albeit controversial, for his ideological stance
- 2001Masterminded the September 11 attacks, resulting in nearly 3,000 deaths
- 2004Released a video threatening further attacks on the United States
- 2006Called for attacks on Western economies and oil companies
- 2011Killed in a US special forces raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan
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