Characteristics: Full beard, mustache; walks with cane
Aliases: The Prince; the Emir; Abu Abdallab
The 17th son of a Saudi Arabian construction magnate, bin Laden went to Afghanistan in the early 1980s to fight against the Soviets. There, he gained a reputation for bravery and determination.
Using an inheritance valued at around $300 million, he founded al Qaeda (The Base), a group of like-minded terrorists, in 1990. The Saudi Arabian government revoked his citizenship in 1994 and his family officially disowned him. He moved to Sudan in 1991, but international pressure on Khartoum forced him to move to Afghanistan in 1996.
"We - with God's help - call on every Muslim who believes in God and wishes to be rewarded to comply with God's order to kill the Americans and plunder their money wherever and whenever they find it," bin Laden released in a 1998 fatwa.
The FBI placed him on its 10 Most Wanted list in June 1999. He masterminded the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks on New York and the Pentagon.
