Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden, also known as Osama bin Laden, is the founder of the radical Islamic militant organization al-Qaeda. This group is referred to by the United Nations Security Council, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the European Union and various countries as a terrorist group. He was a Saudi citizen until 1994 and was part of the wealthy bin Laden family. Bin Laden's father is Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden, a Saudi millionaire from Hadramaut, Yemen, and founder of the Saudi construction company Binladin Group. Her mother, Alia Ghanem, came from a secular, middle-class family in Latakia, Syria. He was born in Saudi Arabia and studied in the country until 1979 when he joined the Mujahedin forces in Pakistan fighting the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. He helped fund the Mujahedin by transporting weapons, money, and warriors from the Arab world to Afghanistan, and was favored by many Arabs. In 1988, he founded Al Qaeda.

Al Qaeda's international terrorist leader. He was the mastermind behind the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City on September 11, 2001. He was apprehended and assassinated in a clandestine US operation in 2011.