A Biography of Osama Bin Laden, Part One
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.
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.