Osama Bin Laden, founder and first leader of the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda, was killed in Pakistan on May 2, 2011.
Once renowned as the FBI’s ‘most wanted’ From 2001 to 2011, he was shot and killed shortly after 1:00 am PKT in a private residential compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
Often dubbed as the “mastermind” behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Bin Laden was assassinated by United States Navy SEALs of the U.S. Naval Special Warfare Development Group.
Since the organization’s founding, the Federal Bureau of Intelligence offered a $25 million bounty in the desperate search for the terrorist.
Bin Laden combined different elements of terrorism under one movement, known as al-Qaeda, which translates into English as “the Base”.
The group claimed responsibility for the 9/11 terrorist attack which targeted New York’s World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001. It was an event that claimed nearly 3,000 lives, and sparked the initiation of the famous “War on Terror” by President George W. Bush, as well as the subsequent War in Afghanistan. In fact, new organizations like the National Counter Terrorism Center, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Director of National Intelligence owe their creation to the events of 9/11.
On August 7, 1998, al-Qaeda bombed the U.S. embassies in East Africa, which killed 224 people, including 12 Americans. The planned attacks were disguised as suicide truck bombs against U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Tanzania.
What happened to Al-Qaeda?
Al-Qaeda is still present to this day, with headquarters in Iraq. Following the death of Bin Laden, a newly appointed leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, became the sole head of the organisation. Abu Chair al-Masri, alleged successor as the deputy to Ayman al-Zawahiri, was killed by a US airstrike in Syria in February 2017.
In the years following events of 2011, the organisation split into smaller factions, which include:
- The Military Committee, which is responsible for planning attacks.
- The Money/Business Committee, which funds the recruitment and training of operatives .
- The Law Committee reviews Sharia law and decides upon courses of action conform to it. It is Islam’s legal system.
- The Islamic Study Committee issues religious edicts, such as an edict in 1998 telling Muslims to kill Americans.
- The Media Committee, which is now non-existant, handled public relations.
- In 2005, al-Qaeda formed As-Sahab, a media production house, to supply its video and audio materials.
In 2021, Ayman al-Zawahiri who was believed to have keen killed, resurfaced in a video released in September 2021.
To learn more about the events of 9/11, visit the memorial website: https://www.911memorial.org/20th-anniversary
If you wish to donate, refer to https://www.cnet.com/culture/20th-anniversary-of-911-heres-how-to-donate-to-charities-today/ for more information.
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