Osama bin Laden

Osama bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a militant leader who was the founder and first general <a href="/facts/Emir/8zsf4AGp">emir</a> of <a href="/facts/Al-Qaeda/CIQSk3D7">al-Qaeda</a>. Ideologically a <a href="/facts/Pan-Islamism/DH7VURGL">pan-Islamist</a>, Bin Laden participated in the <a href="/facts/Afghan_mujahideen/nDVlPBW9">Afghan mujahideen</a> against the <a href="/facts/Soviet_Union/m7wWsPto">Soviet Union</a>, and supported the <a href="/facts/Bosnian_mujahideen/7qEDwSW1">Bosnian mujahideen</a> during the <a href="/facts/Yugoslav_Wars/CUoVQ6Y9">Yugoslav Wars</a>. Opposed to <a href="/facts/Foreign_policy_of_the_United_States/LqGcw96t">American foreign policy</a> in the <a href="/facts/Middle_East/8CD6pLWv">Middle East</a>, Bin Laden <a href="/facts/Declaration_of_War_against_the_Americans_Occupying_the_Land_of_the_Two_Holy_Places/rlvp7CGM">declared war</a> on the <a href="/facts/United_States/P0sCdLe5">United States</a> in 1996 and advocated attacks targeting U.S. assets in various countries, and supervised the execution of the <a href="/facts/September_11_attacks/PfWQcQNx">September 11 attacks</a> inside the U.S. in 2001.

Born in <a href="/facts/Riyadh/2e9UVxy5">Riyadh</a> to the aristocratic <a href="/facts/Bin_Laden_family/3KWwzRj7">bin Laden family</a>, he studied at Saudi and foreign universities until 1979, when he joined the mujahideen fighting against the Soviet invasion of <a href="/facts/Afghanistan/v63Auu1C">Afghanistan</a>. In 1984, he co-founded <a href="/facts/Maktab_al-Khidamat/RwaKHUBx">Maktab al-Khidamat</a>, which recruited foreign mujahideen into the war. As the Soviet war in Afghanistan came to an end, Bin Laden founded al-Qaeda in 1988 to carry out worldwide <a href="/facts/Jihad/DerLM18J">jihad</a>. In the <a href="/facts/Gulf_War/6LdLnGdo">Gulf War</a>, Bin Laden's offer of support to Saudi Arabia against <a href="/facts/Ba%2527athist_Iraq/lbHnSQBz">Iraq</a> was rejected by the <a href="/facts/House_of_Saud/9egk15WK">Saudi royal family</a>, which instead sought <a href="/facts/Coalition_of_the_Gulf_War/FMh4BxRH">American aid</a>.
<a href="/facts/Political_views_of_Osama_bin_Laden/cJSflC1T">Bin Laden's views</a> on pan-Islamism and <a href="/facts/Anti-Americanism/wUu2k8X1">anti-Americanism</a> resulted in his expulsion from Saudi Arabia in 1991. He shifted his headquarters to <a href="/facts/Republic_of_the_Sudan_(1985%25E2%2580%25932019)/oW5yHW57">Sudan</a> until 1996, when he established a new base in Afghanistan, where he was supported by the <a href="/facts/Taliban/VJC0WJlq">Taliban</a>. Bin Laden declared <a href="/facts/Fataw%25C4%2581_of_Osama_bin_Laden/rlvp7CGM">two</a> <a href="/facts/Fat%25C4%2581w%25C4%2581/ftHBQbql">fatāwā</a> in August 1996 and February 1998, declaring <a href="/facts/Religious_war/6wn1hoSe">holy war</a> against the U.S. After al-Qaeda's <a href="/facts/1998_United_States_embassy_bombings/qUJSm82y">bombings of U.S. embassies</a> in <a href="/facts/East_Africa/WtsAyphI">East Africa</a>, which killed hundreds of civilians, he was indicted by a U.S. district court and listed on the <a href="/facts/Federal_Bureau_of_Investigation/UY93jwX6">FBI</a>'s <a href="/facts/FBI_Most_Wanted_Terrorists/NmCWyz9h">Most Wanted Terrorists</a> and <a href="/facts/FBI_Ten_Most_Wanted_Fugitives/smxIQtWj">Most Wanted Fugitives</a> lists. In October 1999, the <a href="/facts/United_Nations/fgXLnmgT">United Nations</a> designated al-Qaeda as a terrorist organization.
Bin Laden organized the September 11 attacks, which <a href="/facts/Casualties_of_the_September_11_attacks/BADU0jpY">killed nearly 3,000 people</a>, mostly civilians. This resulted in the <a href="/facts/United_States_invasion_of_Afghanistan/1QRqNSDS">U.S. invading Afghanistan</a> and launching the <a href="/facts/War_on_terror/CTGl4eto">war on terror</a>. Bin Laden became the subject of a nearly decade-long <a href="/facts/Manhunt_for_Osama_bin_Laden/0ymrRhfW">international manhunt</a> led by the U.S. During this period, he hid in the mountains of Afghanistan and later escaped to neighboring <a href="/facts/Pakistan/cbIsvJy1">Pakistan</a>. On 2 May 2011, Bin Laden <a href="/facts/Killing_of_Osama_bin_Laden/86rGP6wX">was killed</a> by U.S. special operations forces at <a href="/facts/Osama_bin_Laden%2527s_compound_in_Abbottabad/z3PY7324">his compound</a> in <a href="/facts/Abbottabad/zUWeIUlt">Abbottabad</a>. His corpse was buried in the <a href="/facts/Arabian_Sea/JM6V0y3s">Arabian Sea</a> and he was succeeded by his deputy <a href="/facts/Ayman_al-Zawahiri/Hu9JC1MM">Ayman al-Zawahiri</a> on 16 June 2011. During his lifetime, Bin Laden became a symbol of terrorism and was reviled in the United States and elsewhere as a mass murderer due to his orchestration of numerous attacks and bombings.

Osama bin Laden open-in-new

Osama bin Laden