Osama bin Laden: his life in pictures

Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaida leader, has been killed in Pakistan by US special forces. These pictures chart his transition from Saudi youth to Afghanistan 'freedom fighter' and, eventually, world's most wanted man

  • 1971: Osama bin Laden (second from right) on a visit to Falun, Sweden. That year 23 members of the wealthy Bin Laden family visited Falun while one of the elder brothers conducted business with Volvo. Osama is remembered from the occasion as a quiet and reserved boy who at 16 didn't really stand out from the crowd
    Osama bin Laden: 1971: Osama bin Laden on a visit to Falun, Sweden

  • 1985: Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan
    Osama bin Laden: 1985: Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan

  • 1988: Osama bin Laden in a cave in the Jalalabad region of Afghanistan
    Osama bin Laden: 1988: Osama bin Laden sits in a cave in the Jalalabad region of Afghanistan

  • 1989: Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan during the war with Russia
    Osama bin Laden: 1989: Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan during the war with Russia

  • 1989: Osama Bin Laden walks with Afghans in the Jalalabad area
    Osama bin Laden: 1989: Osama Bin Laden walks with Afghanis in the Jalalabad area

  • 1998: Osama bin Laden sits behind a map of Afghanistan in an undisclosed part of the country
    Osama bin Laden: 1998: Exiled Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden sits by a map of Afghanista

  • 1998: Osama bin Laden at a meeting with reporters in the mountains of Helmand province, southern Afghanistan. By this time he was a suspect in the bombing of two US embassies in Africa
    Osama bin Laden: 1998: Muslim militant Osama bin Laden speaks to a group of reporters

  • 1998: Osama bin Laden at a press conference with Ayman al-Zawahiri in Khost, Afghanistan
    Osama bin Laden: 1998: Osama bin Laden holds a press conference in Khost, Afghanistan

  • 1999: Poster of Osama bin Laden sold in Rawalpindi, Pakistan
    Osama bin Laden: 1999: Poster of al-Qaida ringleader Osama bin Laden in Rawalpindi, Pakistan

  • 1999: An Osama bin Laden wanted poster at a US justice department press conference in New York
    Osama bin Laden: 1999: Osama Bin Laden on a poster at the US Justice Department conference

  • 2000: Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan
    Osama bin Laden: Pre 2001: Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden

  • January 2001: Osama bin Laden at the wedding of his son in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar
    Osama bin Laden: 2001: Osama bin Laden, at the wedding of his son in January in Kandahar

  • 2001: Osama bin Laden, at an undisclosed location, having been named the prime suspect in the 9/11 attacks on the United States. Behind him is top lieutenant Ayman al-Zawahiri. Al-Jazeera said the scene was believed to record a celebration of the union of Bin Laden's al-Qaida network and Zawahiri's Egyptian Jihad group
    Osama bin Laden: 2001: Osama bin Laden, left, at an undisclosed loaction

  • 2001: Osama bin Laden records a video at an undisclosed location
    Osama bin Laden: 2001: Osama bin Laden at an undisclosed location in a tv broadcast

  • 2002: A boy holds an Osama bin Laden poster at an Islamist political rally in Quetta, Pakistan
    Osama bin Laden: 2002: A young supporter holds a poster with a portrait of Osama bin Laden

  • 2003: Osama bin Laden in a video aired by al-Jazeera on the second anniversary of 9/11
    Osama bin Laden: 2003: Al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden in an undetermined mountain area

  • 2005: A Pakistani boy holds an Osama bin Laden poster at a rally to show solidarity with Kashmiris fighting against Indian troops
    Osama bin Laden: 2005: A Pakistani boy holds an Osama bin Laden poster

  • 2006: A video produced by al-Qaida linked media group as-Sahab and broadcast on al-Jazeera shows Osama bin Laden at an undisclosed time and place in Afghanistan
    Osama bin Laden: 2006: A video shows al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden

  • 7 September 2007: A new video claimed to show Osama bin Laden
    Osama bin Laden: 2007: Al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden speaks

  • 2 May 2011: The Abbottabad compound where Osama bin Laden has been killed by American forces
    Osama bin Laden: 2 May 2011: Compound where Osama Bin Laden was killed in Abbotabad Pakistan
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