Incredible Osama Bin Laden Photos Show Al Qaeda Leader Relaxing In Tora Bora Hideout
Incredible Pictures Show Osama Bin Laden Relaxing In Tora Bora hideout
The Huffington Post UK
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Newly resurfaced photographs give an incredible insight into the world of Osama Bin Laden before he became the world's most wanted man.
The former Al Qaeda leader is shown relaxing in his Tora Bora hideout in the White Mountains of eastern Afghanistan in 1996.
Although he was yet to mastermind the 9/11 attacks which would sear his reputation into the minds of everyone in the Western world, he was already plotting against America.
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Walking in the Afghan countryside
In the same year he declared war on the US and two years later he would bomb their embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya, killing 224 people.
Three years later 19 Al Qaeda terrorists would fly hijack four planes and crash them into the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania.
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He was rarely pictured without his AK-47
Nearly 3,000 people died.
Bin Laden became the world's wanted man and a 13-year war in Afghanistan ensued.
Despite being hunted by a coalition lead by the world's biggest military, Bin Laden evaded capture until 2011 when he was shot dead by a elite Navy Seal team in a compound in Pakistan on May 2.
In 1992 he was banished from Saudi Arabia and moved operations to Sudan. (credit:U.S. Attorney's Office )
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In 1996 Bin Laden was forced to leave Sudan, establishing a base in Afghanistan under the protection of the Taliban. (credit:U.S. Attorney's Office )
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Bin Laden and Syrian-born ideologue Abu Musab al-Suri, a key ally of the Al Qaeda leader who ran training camps (credit:U.S. Attorney's Office )
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After 9/11 he had a bounty on his head of $25 million. (credit:U.S. Attorney's Office )
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His full name is Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden. (credit:U.S. Attorney's Office )
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He is thought to have had six wives. (credit:U.S. Attorney's Office )
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He married his first wife, Najwa Ghanem, at the age of 17. (credit:U.S. Attorney's Office )
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He was known for living a very frugal life despite his family's wealth. (credit:U.S. Attorney's Office )
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After he was killed, Pakistan faced accusations of harbouring Bin Laden as the compound in which he lived was located less than a mile away from a prestigious military academy. (credit:U.S. Attorney's Office )