Washington, May 2 (IANS) Here are some of the key moments in the life of Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden. He was killed in Pakistan Sunday, reported CNN.
1957 – Osama bin Muhammad bin Awad bin Laden is born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He is the 17th of 52 children of Muhammad Awad bin Laden of Yemeni origin. His mother is Hamida al-Attas from Syria.
1979 – Osama graduates from King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah with a degree in engineering. He goes to Afghanistan to join the ‘jihad’ against the Soviet Union.
1988 – Osama forms Al Qaeda, which in Arabic means ‘the base’.
1989 – Soviet Union withdraws from Afghanistan. Bin Laden returns to Saudi Arabia to work for family construction firm – the Bin Laden Group.
1991 – Osama expelled from Saudi Arabia, relocates to Sudan.
Feb 26, 1993 – A bomb explodes at the World Trade Center in New York City, killing six. Osama named as a co-conspirator in the case.
1994 – Saudi Arabia officially strips Osama of his citizenship, freezing all assets he has in the country. His family disowns him as well.
1996 – Sudan expels Osama from the country. He moves with his children and three wives to Afghanistan.
Aug 23, 1996 – Osama declares holy war against US, signs a Declaration of jihad from Afghanistan titled: ‘Message from Osama bin Laden to his Muslim Brothers in the Whole World and Especially in the Arabian Peninsula: Declaration of Jihad Against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Mosques; Expel the Heretics from the Arabian Peninsula.’
1998 – Al Qaeda merges with the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, led by Ayman al-Zawahiri.
February 1998 – Osama and al-Zawahiri endorse a fatwa: ‘International Islamic Front for Jihad on the Jews and Crusaders’ that states that Muslims should kill Americans anywhere in the world.
May 29, 1998 – Osama issues a statement titled: ‘The Nuclear Bomb of Islam’, where he says ‘it is the duty of Muslims to prepare as much force as possible to terrorise the enemies of God’.
November 1998 – Osama is indicted in the US on 224 counts of murder – one for each death in the US Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.
June 7, 1999 – Osama appears on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list.
Sep 11, 2001- Four US commercial aircraft are hijacked and then crashed in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania, leading to the deaths of over 3,000 people. Osama named as a prime suspect.
Dec 27, 2001 – Afghan officials report that Osama is in Pakistan.
May 17, 2002 – Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar says ‘Sheikh Osama is still alive, praise God, and this is causing anguish to (US President George W.) Bush who promised his people to kill Osama, not knowing that lives are in the hands of God.’
August 2010 – US President Barack Obama is briefed on a ‘possible lead’ about the location of Osama.
April 2011: Obama said he believes that there is enough credible intelligence about Osama’s whereabouts, setting in motion the military operations.
May 1, 2011: A small team of US Navy Seals engage in a fight in Abbottabad, Pakistan, killing bin Laden in the process, says Obama.
