Usama bin Laden, also spelled Osama bin Laden, was a Saudi Arabian-born Islamic extremist and terrorist leader. He was born in 1957 and came from a wealthy Saudi family that had close ties to the Saudi royal family. Bin Laden is infamous for founding and leading the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda, known for carrying out numerous attacks around the world.
Bin Laden became involved in radical politics and activism during the Soviet-Afghan War in the 1980s. He participated in the Afghan resistance against the Soviet Union and played a significant role in funding and recruiting foreign fighters to join the mujahideen.
After the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, bin Laden returned to Saudi Arabia, where he began to advocate for the establishment of an Islamic caliphate and the removal of Western influence from Muslim countries. In the 1990s, he relocated to Sudan and later Afghanistan, where he further expanded his extremist network and training camps.
Bin Laden's most notorious act was masterminding the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, which resulted in the deaths of almost 3,000 people. This horrific act of terrorism prompted the United States and its allies to launch the War on Terror to eliminate Al-Qaeda and bring bin Laden to justice.
On May 2, 2011, bin Laden was finally tracked down and killed by United States Navy SEALs during a raid on his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. His death marked a major victory in the fight against terrorism, although his ideology, legacy, and the threat of terrorism he posed continue to influence global security efforts today.
