Person

Osama bin Laden

1957–2011 · 20th century

Osama bin Laden was a Saudi-born militant who founded al-Qaeda in 1988 after fighting with the mujahideen against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. Sheltered by the Taliban in Afghanistan from 1996, he directed attacks including the 1998 embassy bombings in Africa and the attacks of 11 September 2001 on the United States. United States special forces killed him in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in 2011.

Osama bin Laden — Image: Hamid Mir · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 1 state history

Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (1996-2001)

See also

Cite this entry

APA: The Epoch Institute. (2026). Osama bin Laden. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/osama-bin-laden
MLA: “Osama bin Laden.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/osama-bin-laden. Accessed .
Chicago: The Epoch Institute. “Osama bin Laden.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/osama-bin-laden.
Harvard: The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Osama bin Laden’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/osama-bin-laden (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻