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Birth
Osama bin Muhammad bin Awad bin Laden is born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He is the 17th of 54 children fathered by Muhammad Awad bin Laden, a Yemeni immigrant who built a billion-dollar construction company in Saudi Arabia. His mother is Hamida al-Attas, from Syria. -
education and buissness
Bin Laden graduates from King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah with a degree in public administration and economics. He goes to Afghanistan to join the "jihad," or "holy war," against the Soviet Union. He remains there for a decade, using construction equipment from his family's business to help the Muslim guerrilla forces build shelters, tunnels and roads through the rugged Afghan mountains, and at times taking part in battle. -
al qaeda
Bin Laden founds a group he names al Qaeda, which in Arabic means "the base." -
Anger towards United states
Following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, U.S. troops arrive in Saudi Arabia in order to have a close base to eventually go after Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's troops. Bin Laden becomes outraged at the U.S. forces' presence near the Muslim holy sites of Mecca and Medina. -
Expulsion and relocation
Bin Laden is expelled from Saudi Arabia by its regime. Eventually he and his followers relocate to Sudan, funded by assets that had grown to as much as $20 million, according to lawyers familiar with the family forture. In that African nation, al Qaeda begins to evolve into a terror network. -
First attack on United states
A bomb explodes at the World Trade Center in New York City, killing six and wounding hundreds. Six Muslim radicals, who U.S. officials suspect have links to bin Laden, are eventually convicted for the bombing. Bin Laden is later named along with many others as an unindicted co-conspirator in that case. -
Cut off
The Saudi government officially strips bin Laden of his citizenship, freezing all the remaining assets he has in the country. His family disowns him as well. -
Attempt of killing
That same year as he is stripped from saudi arabia, bin Laden is the target of an assassination attempt. Afterward, he strengthens his personal security detail. -
Declaration
Bin Laden declares a holy war against U.S. forces. He signs and issues 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." -
Wanted
Bin Laden is indicted in the United States on 224 counts of murder -- one for each death in the Kenya and Tanzania embassy bombings. Top 10 most wanted in america -
A statement of nuclear attacks
Bin Laden issues a statement titled "The Nuclear Bomb of Islam," under the banner of the "International Islamic Front for Fighting the Jews and Crusaders." In it, he states that "it is the duty of Muslims to prepare as much force as possible to terrorize the enemies of God." -
U.S embassy's
- A pair of truck bombs explodes outside the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Some 224 people are killed.
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Bounty
U.S. forces drop leaflets in Afghanistan offering a $25 million bounty for bin Laden. -
9/11
Four U.S. commercial aircraft are commandered in flight by 19 hijackers. Two are flown into the World Trade Center in New York, another into the Pentagon just outside Washington, and the fourth, headed to an unknown target, crashes in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. More than 3,000 people are killed. Soon thereafter, the U.S. government names bin Laden as a prime suspect. -
Death
In the early morning, "a small team of Americans" -- special operations forces, including U.S. Navy SEALs -- fly by helicopter into a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, according to U.S. authorities. During a 40-minute operation, bin Laden resists and is killed in a firefight, as were one woman and three other adult males, one of them believed to be an adult son of the al Qaeda leader.